Stargate Genesis: Season 1
by StargateGenesis
Summary: The Destiny is in peril, Atlantis faces new threats, and the Lucian Alliance plagues the Milky Way Galaxy. Collaborative continuation of the Stargate franchise. New episodes of season one will be released every Wednesday through the end of 2013. EPISODE FOURTEEN ADDED 10/29/13
1. The Old and The New

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 1: Pilot, Part 1**

**"The Old And The New"**

"Wake up Eli."

"Ginn? Is that you?"

Smoke blurred Eli's vision as he stumbled from his stasis pod. He choked and hugged the wall for balance while he tried to get his bearings. The ominous wail of an alarm in the distance was making it difficult to concentrate. He shook himself and took a few faltering steps down the corridor before breaking into a run. Something was very wrong here.

When he reached Colonel Young's pod he had to use both hands and all of his considerable weight to wrench it open. The cool air that billowed out of the pressurized compartment washed over his back as Eli bent double trying to catch his breath in front of the open pod.

"Colonel…," he panted. "I think… Something may have happened with the pods. Most of them haven't–"

Eli stopped cold. He was speaking to a corpse, a gaunt yellow shell with flesh so taught it barely covered its haggard face. It smiled a wide toothy grin at Eli and stared at him with eyes that bulged too far out from its head. The only indication that this monster had ever been the Colonel was that it still wore his jacket with the name "Young" sewn to the front. Eli fell backwards in shock. The sight made him want to run away in terror or vomit, and he chose the former. Back on his feet, he made his way down another row of pods and found them all still shut up tight. He kept his eyes ahead of him, not daring to look inside.

At the end of the row he could see Dr. Nicholas Rush bent over and coughing on the clouds of smoke that seemed to hang over everything. In a rage Eli lifted him up by the shoulders and all but threw him back into his pod.

"What happened?" he demanded. "Young's dead and from what I've seen your pod is the only one that opened like it was supposed to."

"Get off me," said Rush shoving him away. "I don't know what's happened, and anyway your pod opened didn't it?"

Eli thought about this long enough to admit that it had and to wonder why that was. Then he seemed to decide that they had bigger fish to fry.

"Colonel Young is dead," he said slowly. "And something is obviously wrong with the rest of the pods, so what the hell are we going to do?"

Rush scratched his head and looked up at the smoke sliding lazily along the ceiling.

"We need to get to the Chair Room."

**~~00~~**

The _Destiny _was in rough shape. Micrometeorites had ripped through everything and emergency shields had activated everywhere to prevent the ship's dwindling atmosphere from being slowly vented into space. In some places bulkheads had given way under the assault and Eli and Rush had to find alternate routes around the debris.

Luckily the Chair Room was relatively undamaged when they arrived and Rush sat down hurriedly. The neural interface clamps came down automatically and started feeding him images of the ship's status as fast as he could process them.

"Oh hell," he said. "Propulsions shot. Not even the thrusters are working and we're drifting towards a star on the outskirts of the target galaxy. The collectors are extended but primary shields are offline. There's no way we'll survive a close enough pass to recharge the ship."

He paused and Eli saw his eyes go wide with panic.

"Oh no… The gate room has been destroyed, along with half the stasis pods."

Somewhere between Eli's ears and brain this information got lost and he just stood there uncomprehending until Rush suddenly jerked backwards in pain.

"What's happening?" Eli asked grabbing hold of the chair and trying to pry the neural clamps off.

"It feels like I'm being pulled into the mainframe. I'm not sure I can stop it," Rush replied.

"No no you cannot leave me here," said Eli still clutching desperately at the clamps around Rush's forehead.

"Eli stop," said Rush firmly. "It'll be okay. Once I figure out what's happening I'll disconnect from the inside. Right now you need to activate the communication stones and get a message to Stargate Command."

"Rush, we are still billions of light years from Earth. There is nothing they can do for us."

"Eli please, I can't fight this much longer and besides, someone ought to know what happened to us."

With that Rush's consciousness was absorbed into the _Destiny's _main computer, and Eli was once again alone with an empty shell.

**~~00~~**

In the Communication Room Eli steadied himself against a bulkhead as the _Destiny _swayed sickeningly beneath him. The alarms were louder here, and a large portion of the ship's outer hull had been patched up with emergency force fields.

The communication stones were strewn across the floor and Eli picked one up at random. He was about to activate it when a thought struck him and he began to rummage around the room for something hard. He found what he was looking for under an overturned table and hefted it appreciatively before dropping it back down and scrapping it heavily across the metal floor. The chunk of space rock left deep white gashes wherever it went and Eli managed to scrawl the words "DO NOT PANIC!" in large reassuring letters.

**~~00~~**

For Rush the gentle white light that surrounded him was blinding and the sudden silence was deafening. Somewhere beyond this reality the _Destiny _was dying, and he needed to get back to her, but when he turned to look for a way out what he saw made him want to stay forever.

Amanda Perry stood beside him back in her own body, the one he remembered from Earth. Of course, on Earth he had never had the privilege of seeing her without her wheelchair. He pulled her to him and kissed her tenderly, troubles very nearly forgotten.

"How can you be here?" he asked and looking into her eyes saw the tears forming there for the first time.

"Amanda, please, what's going on?"

"There wasn't enough power," she said. "Several of the pods suffered overloads and the fire suppression systems had to be engaged-"

Sobs overtook her and Rush touched a hand to her cheek and tried to soothe her. She turned away from him.

"When I saw that you wouldn't make it to the next O-Class star I had to do something so I… I reduced power to the shields," she paused to catch her breath. "I didn't know about the asteroid field I... I'm sorry."

Rush pulled her close and tried again to comfort her.

"It's alright," he said. "There was nothing else you could have done, but right now we need to find a way to get those shields back up and revive the people in the remaining pods."

Tears were streaming down her face when she turned back to look at him.

"There's nothing you can do for them," she said. "Even with the shields offline there still wasn't enough power."

Rush stared at her, horror spreading across his face.

"What did you do?" he asked.

Tears dripping from her chin she whispered, "I couldn't let you die, and the pods... well... they were the only thing left to sacrifice."

**~~00~~**

Eli found himself in the body of Airman Tracy Mitchell and had to take a moment to adjust to the stockier man's lower center of gravity before bolting down the underground passages of Stargate Command. Two near misses and one headlong collision later he burst into the empty office of General Samantha Carter. Having run nearly a quarter mile, he was surprised to find that his borrowed body had barely broke a sweat.

"If you're looking for General Carter, she's in conference room three with Dr. McKay."

Eli turned to see a young medic looking at him with mild concern. Rather than try to explain himself Eli smiled anxiously at her and brushed on past to continue his sprint.

"Look I want to protect Earth as much as the next guy, but you've still got hundreds of drones down there," said Rodney. "All I'm asking is that we come up with some equitable way to divide them between the Arctic Outpost and Atlantis."

"Atlantis has shields and more than enough Zero Point Modules to power them for the foreseeable future," Carter replied. "And on top of that the Wraith have no idea where you are and haven't launched an attack in months."

Rodney looked ready to argue so Carter put a hand up to silence him.

"I understand your concern Rodney, but I will not authorize the transfer of any additional drones to the city while the Lucian Alliance is still active in the Milky Way."

Just then Eli Wallace in the guise of Airman Tracy Mitchell slammed into the locked door of the conference room and collapsed on the ground outside. General Samantha Carter and Dr. Rodney McKay came out to see him being helped up by security personnel.

"I'm fine," he said trying to brush them off.

"You don't look fine Airman," said Carter. "Is there a reason you tried to open that door with your face?"

"I'm not an Airman," said Eli breathlessly. "I'm Eli Wallace and I'm here because the _Destiny _is in trouble."

McKay and Carter passed each other grim looks. The two of them had spent the last year and a half trying to prepare an evacuation plan for the _Destiny _upon the reanimation of her crew, but the logistics of launching any kind of meaningful rescue from halfway across the universe had proved more than a little daunting.

"Well we've made some improvements to the naqueda generators," said Rodney. "Maybe if we tied enough of them into the Atlantis Stargate and used the city's ZPMs to pick up the slack we could dial in."

"Rodney we've been over this," said Carter. "There's only so much current you can feed through the capacitor matrix without–"

"Yeah yeah yeah," said Rodney. "But I was thinking about this last night in the tub and if we just reinforce the ancillary capacitors–"

"It won't work," Eli cut in. "The gate room's been destroyed."

Another round of grim looks were passed around, but this time no new suggestions were forthcoming. Every last one of their ideas depended on the _Destiny's _gate room being operational.

"When you say destroyed…" Rodney began, but Eli cut him off again.

"Look, I appreciate that your trying to help, but rescue wasn't what I had in mind when I came here," he said. "All I want is to say goodbye to my mother, and I'd like to arrange for everyone else to have the same opportunity."

"Now hold on just a minute," said Carter, eyes closed in concentration. "There has to be something else we can do."

Eli scoffed sadly, "not unless you can come pick us up."

Samantha's eyes snapped open and she looked sharply at Rodney who was already shaking his head, no.

"What would it take?" she asked.

**~~00~~**

Rush felt nauseous, but whether it was from the sudden release of the chair's neural interface or the realization that his life had come at the cost of nearly two hundred others he couldn't be certain. With some effort he removed himself from the chair, and made his way aft. Wreckage from shredded bulkheads was scattered along his path, and puncture wounds sealed up by force fields constantly forced him to double back and seek out less treacherous routes.

Before long he found himself back amongst the stasis pods, and against his better judgment he took a moment to peer inside one. He instantly regretted it. The thing inside wasn't human. It was a skeleton in a skin costume several sizes too small. Its lips were drawn tight and its gaze was fixed into an accusatory stare. The nausea intensified. All of these people dead, yet still judging him from beyond the grave. He hurried on.

Despite the carnage elsewhere on the ship, and despite being many millions of years old, the shuttle looked to be in working condition. As Rush's fingers worked to reactivate its systems his mind rattled off calculations. It had to hold everything. Gate addresses, mission data, the historical archive, Amanda Perry's consciousness, and most importantly the coordinates of _Destiny's _intended destination. It would all have to fit, but even now he knew it wouldn't.

Sweat dripped from his face while his fingers raced across the shuttle's main control console. Startup routines, docking procedures, thruster controls, even emergency life support subroutines, it all had to go. With one trembling finger Dr. Nicholas Rush wiped the shuttle clean.

**~~00~~**

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. Are you telling me this ship can reach _Destiny_?" Eli asked.

"No I'm telling you it will be able to reach _Destiny _once we bring the wormhole drive online which, I remind you, wasn't supposed to be for another two months," Rodney replied. "But supposing Colonel Sheppard can get a crew together, and supposing the IOA authorizes rushing the _Elizabeth _into service I might be able to get her there say, sometime next week?"

"Oh no no that's not good enough," said Eli. "There's still probably a hundred people on that ship and we're all about to be burned alive."

"I promise you, I will do everything in my power to get GS-1 up and running in time. Right now I think you need to get back aboard the _Destiny _and find some way to stall your inevitable demise so that we can come and rescue you," said Rodney in the exasperated voice of a magician asked to perform a miracle.

Eli nodded and raced out of the underground hanger back towards the Communications Room. Once inside he deactivated Airman Mitchell's stone and was transported instantly back into his own body. Disoriented by a sudden ninety degree shift in orientation, he threw his hands out in front of him to catch himself only to discover that he was already on the floor with his knees tucked up to his chest in the fetal position. Apparently Tracy Mitchell had panicked.

"Eli!" yelled Rush, his voice crackling over the radio hooked into his jeans. "Eli if you're there I could use your help in the shuttle. I'm going to transfer over as much of the _Destiny's _database as it'll hold then detach it before we hit the coronasphere. If we're lucky maybe someone else can finish what the ancients started."

"Rush listen to me," said Eli. "Stargate Command is sending a ship to pick us up. All we have to do is stall for time."

"Ha," Rush laughed. "For how long then? A few million years?"

"McKay says it'll be a week and a half tops," Eli replied. "They've got some kind of new engine based on gate technology."

Rush thought about this for a moment. There was more than enough food and water on board to sustain them for that long. Life support was in shambles, but even running at minimal efficiency the ship's CO2 scrubbers could handle two people.

"Have you got a plan?" he asked.

**~~00~~**

"I don't believe this," said Colonel Sheppard. "We've spent almost half a million man hours and if you count Todd several thousand Wraith hours not to mention billions a dollars on this thing and now the IOA doesn't even want to use it?"

"And that's exactly why John," said Carter. "This is Earth's first gate-capable ship and it took the resources of twenty-one nations to build. I'm sure you understand why the IOA isn't exactly chomping at the bit to release it before its shields and weapons are fully operational."

"You know what? I do understand," he replied. "But I think it's time the IOA understood something and that's that we don't leave people behind."

"And that's why you're here," said Carter.

Behind her a door slid open to reveal a conference table surrounded by bleary eyed representatives fighting fatigue and looking nervous.

"Well this'll be interesting," said Sheppard as the door closed behind him.

**~~00~~**

"The collectors are ready, but this far out they'll only be able to provide so much power," said Eli. "The beam will be weak but we should be able to sustain it long enough to slow our momentum considerably."

With a flick of his wrist Rush trained _Destiny's _main gun on the star directly ahead and fired a stream of highly charged particles into its center. With propulsion offline, this was the closest thing to a forward thruster the ship had.

"Eli where are you going?" Rush asked as Eli started to leave. "We still need to calculate how much time this little maneuver of yours has bought us."

"They can't all be dead," Eli replied. "I'm going to check the pods for myself."

"Eli we have to stay focused," Rush pleaded. "They're gone, and if we're going to survive he have to accept that."

Eli didn't bother to respond. If Amanda had sacrificed them all for Rush then why was he still alive? Something wasn't right about her story, but as he reached the nearest row of pods his heart sank. There was no need to open them. The people inside were nothing but husks. Their limbs were withered and their skin was stretched tight around their mouths and foreheads just like the Colonel's had been. Their eyes bulged and escaped their lids to stare blankly into space. All of them, shadows of the people he once knew.

He kept going. Down one row after another each new pod exactly like the one before. His pace quickened as he rounded a corner to examine another row of pods. Every one of them the same. Every occupant just as dead. His breathing grew labored as he moved down a third row and as he came to the end of a fourth he dropped to the floor and buried his face in his hands. How could this have happened? How could they all be gone?

Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of him flitting in and out of existence in pieces as though it were not entirely there, each piece alternating between translucent and opaque. When it spoke, the voice that emanated from somewhere around its mouth was equally ethereal.

"Eli… Eli can you hear me? It's Ginn," said the figure. "Amanda and I managed to release the quarantine, but I had to scramble my base code to do it. I'm not sure how long this patch will hold, but there are some things you should know."

Eli studied her for a moment. In his grief stricken state her words seemed nonsensical. He struggled to unpack them, to uncover their meaning, but as he did so a terrible possibility began to take shape in his mind. Amanda hadn't escaped the quarantine alone. She had help, and if Ginn had escaped with her that meant they had joint control of the ship.

"Oh no," he said. "It was you wasn't it? You're the reason my pod wasn't deactivated like the others."

Despite her apparent urgency, the holographic Ginn remained silent.

"Why me?" he continued. "Because you like me? Because I'm your friend that makes me more worthy than everyone else here?"

"Eli, please believe me, it was either save a few of you or none of you. There was nothing else we could have done," Ginn replied. "It was the hardest decision I've ever had to make, but I did it for you."

For Eli the horror of Colonel Young's emaciated body paled in comparison to this fresh revelation. In his heart he had blamed Rush for what had happened. Somehow that had softened the blow, but now he was complicit and the guilt flooding in was threatening to drown what was left of his sanity. His life had been paid for with blood.

"There's something else," Ginn continued. "Shortly after we lowered the shields some debris struck the infirmary and we lost the data feed coming from Sergeant Greer's pod. Without the feedback loop we had no way of knowing whether it was still online, and no way of shutting it down if it was. What I'm trying to say is that if the damage to the pod itself was superficial he might still be alive."

**~~00~~**

Looking out at his newly minted crew, Colonel Sheppard couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride. There had been no shortage of talent to man Earth's first Gate Ship. Many of these men and women were accomplished pilots and skilled soldiers. Still more were renowned scientists and expert engineers. The few he knew from Atlantis, Rodney and Todd, were busy installing the final components of the wormhole drive, but this next bit wasn't for them anyway.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," he said. "The IOA has asked me to impress upon you the importance of this mission."

In the audience a few faces took on quizzical expressions, clearly skeptical of the IOA's enthusiasm.

"Now, I'm not one for drawn out speeches so I'll try to be succinct," he continued. "Nothing could have prepared me for my first trip through a Stargate, and I suspect there is very little I can offer you on the eve of our first gate jump, but what I will say is that there is no more fitting task for our first mission than the rescue of the _Destiny _and her crew. Whatever strange new worlds we face together, I can promise you that one thing will always remain constant. We do not ever leave our people behind."

**~~00~~**

Rush's fingers flowed over the console in front of him, meticulously adjusting the resonance of the particle beam, tuning it to squeeze every last watt of power from the collectors while his eyes monitored the data transfer between the _Destiny _and the shuttle. If Eli's little stunt didn't pan out he wasn't going to be caught without a backup plan.

On the periphery of his vision a red light began to flash menacingly and, turning to look at it, he grimaced as if to ask what more could possibly go wrong. On the view screen hot plasma rippled out from around the beam, and great burning arches flared up from the surface of the star.

**~~00~~**

Sergeant Greer Coughed and leaned heavily on Eli for support. His right arm hung limply from his shoulder. It had been pinned behind his back for most of the voyage, and what little circulation his body had maintained in stasis hadn't been properly distributed.

"What happened?" he asked.

"It's a long story," Eli replied as a massive shudder ran through the ship and a new alarm began to sound.

"Well give me the short version," Greer insisted, but Rush's voice burst in over the radio before Eli could respond.

"Eli we've got a problem," he said. "The beam is causing the star to produce an abnormally large number of flares and a big one is headed this way."

Eli stumbled out of the infirmary, straining under the added weight of Sergeant Greer. He reached for his radio and fumbled with the call button.

"What's its ETA," hs asked.

"About twenty minutes until impact," came the reply. "Get yourself to the shuttle. Load it with whatever food and supplies we'll need to survive for the next two weeks and I'll meet you there."

Eli quickly explained the situation to Greer before the two of them headed for the nearest supply closet. Eli secured a carton of combat rations and a ten gallon drum of water. Greer hoisted a second drum up under his good arm and ripped a medkit off the wall with his teeth. They made two trips from the closet to the shuttle before hailing Rush.

"We've got everything we need Rush," said Eli.

"I'll be there momentarily," Rush replied.

The data transfer was nearing completion. There was no real reason for him to stay, but Nicholas Rush couldn't seem to pry himself away from the Control Room.

"The mission will go on, but it won't be the same without you old girl," he said, running a hand along a nearby bulkhead.

As he took one last look at the console monitoring the data transfer a new message flashed across the screen in big red letters. "INSUFFICIENT SPACE TRANSFER TERMINATED."

**~~00~~**

On the bridge, Colonel Sheppard stared intensely at a diagram of his ship blown up on the main view screen. A rotating three-dimensional model of the _Elizabeth _dotted here and there with sections enlarged around the edges and flashing an angry red.

"Major Burnette," he said. "What is the status of my shields."

"Same as it was five minutes ago," she said with a sigh.

"Excuse me?" said Sheppard. "I don't think I like your tone Major."

"My apologies Colonel," she said. "Same as it was five minutes ago, sir."

"That's better," said Sheppard. "Rodney where are we with the wormhole drive?"

Over the intercom Rodney's voice sounded even more anxious than usual.

"Just a few more seconds," he said.

In front of him a titanium ring was set into a large bulkhead on the inside of the _Elizabeth's _bow. Around the edge of the ring were one hundred and twenty eight symbols reminiscent of Stargate Glyphs. These had been devised using a combination of data from Earth's most powerful telescopes and the star charts of the ancient database and represented constellations most of which could never be seen from anywhere in the Pegasus or Milky Way galaxies. In the center of the ring a large dome curved out several meters from the bulkhead.

When the wormhole drive was activated, nine of the one hundred and twenty eight symbols would lock into place in a specific order around the ring and the vortex they generated would be deflected off the dome and back into space. There, several hundred meters in front of the _Elizabeth_, it would expand to many times its original size and provide the ship and its crew with a gateway to impossibly distant galaxies.

Two trapezoidal pillars were positioned on either side of the dome so that the wider faces ran parallel to one another. Three hexagonal housings extended diagonally from the front face of each pillar, and cradled within each housing was a Zero Point Module. As Rodney tapped feverishly at his tablet all six ZPMs receded into their respective pillars and the constellations around the ring of the _Elizabeth's _wormhole drive lit up.

"That's it. The wormhole drive is online," said Rodney into his radio.

"Major, get us out of here," said Sheppard.

"Aye aye sir," she replied.

A low buzz filled the air in the underground hanger and the platform below the _Elizabeth _began to glow as a modified Asgard beaming device instantaneously transported the vessel from deep within the Earth to high orbit. Seconds later the wormhole drive ripped a hole through space and time, and Earth's first Gate Ship made its first gate jump.

**~~00~~**

"Come on Rush what the hell is taking you so long," said Eli to himself.

He and Greer sat fidgeting in the cockpit of _Destiny's _last remaining shuttle as a wall of white hot plasma and deadly radiation sped toward them. If they didn't detach themselves soon there would be no escaping the inferno. Suddenly the hatch linking the shuttle to the ship swung shut and the airlock decompressed behind it with a hiss.

Eli snatched up his radio in a panic.

"Rush the shuttle is disengaging on its own," he said, but over the radio Rush's voice came through steady and calm.

"I've disconnected it remotely," he said. "I won't be joining you. I just can't leave her behind."

"Rush it's just a ship," said Eli pleading, but Rush only laughed.

"No Eli, she really isn't."

Rush leaned back and allowed the neural interface of _Destiny's _control chair to pull his consciousness into the mainframe. There, in a simulated void bathed in white light, he took hold of Amanda Perry and kissed her one last time. For a moment, time stood still and they were the only two people in the universe.

From the cockpit of the shuttle Sergeant Ronald Greer and Eli Wallace watched as the _Destiny _burned with Dr. Nicholas Rush still onboard.

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**

******Also available at stargategenesis/dot/com**


	2. Destiny's Ashes

**Stargate Genesis **

**Episode 2: Pilot, Part 2**

"**Destiny's Ashes"**

Dr. Lisa Park awoke, gasping lungfuls of toxic air. Everything hurt. An alarm was wailing impossibly loud all around her. She struggled to open her eyes, only to discover she had gone blind. Or had she always been blind? She couldn't remember. Park felt around herself through the smoke. Her hands pressed against the cold sides of the pod. She shivered and rubbed her hands against her sides, trying to get warm. Where was she?

_Destiny_. She was aboard the _Destiny_, and the entire crew had gone into hibernation in stasis pods in order to make the jump to the next galaxy, where they could refuel. Something had gone wrong. There shouldn't be this much smoke - it hurt to breathe. Dr. Rush would know what was wrong.

Park felt for the sides of the pod and pushed herself forward into the hallway. Her legs gave out from under her and she fell to the floor. She needed to find the others. Colonel Young and Eli. The floor was so cold. She tried to stand up but her legs wouldn't listen. Someone would come to help her. Greer.

She heard voices echoing down the hall. He was coming for her. She tried to call out, but her voice stuck in her throat and came out as a hoarse whisper.

"Ron! Please help me..."

The voices faded. Park felt herself drifting off to sleep. She didn't feel cold anymore. She didn't feel anything.

**~~00~~**

Ginn lay on her back with her head on Eli's lap. She smiled up at him as he ran his hand through her hair. Pale blue light filled the room from the glow of faster than light travel through the window.

"I'm so lucky to have you, Eli," she said sweetly.

"Ha! I've been wearing the same shirt for months. Real winner right here," he laughed.

She reached up and touched a hand to his face.

"You really are beautiful, you know," said Ginn.

The ship lurched violently. Eli snapped awake. The fantasy in his mind dissolved like a handful of salt dropped into an ocean. He was aboard the shuttle. The computer screen told him that they had just been hit with another solar flare. The wreckage of the _Destiny _floated by outside the window.

"Everything alright?" asked Greer, sitting in the co-pilot seat.

"Uh... yeah, everything's fine," said Eli. "Shields are holding."

"Bad dream?"

"Good one, actually."

**~~00~~**

"Rodney, don't tell me you broke my ship!" hissed Sheppard into his radio.

"If anyone broke the ship it was you," came Rodney's curt reply. "I told you before we left that the wormhole drive was never meant for this kind of sustained use. It requires regular cool down periods, and the strain of all these jumps is starting to affect primary systems. I'm going to have to shut it down for a while."

"And exactly how long is a while?"

"Oh, maybe 12 hours?"

"Can you make it go faster?"

"Only if you want all of our de-molecularized bits to be spread across half the universe."

"Rodney!"

"Fine. I'll see what I can do."

Colonel John Sheppard composed himself and looked around the deck.

"Status report?"

"That last jump caused a small fracture in the hull of the starboard 302 bay, but emergency shields are up and a repair crew is headed there now," said Major Burnette. "We'll have main shields up in another hour and the turbulence we've been experiencing should stop.

"Good," he said. "And the nacelles?"

"We don't have nacelles, sir," said Burnette. "You're thinking of the _Enterprise_."

She looked over at Sheppard. "Colonel Sheppard sir?"

"Yes, Major?"

"Do you think we'll make it in time?"

"We'll have to, Major."

**~~00~~**

Eli was staring out the window at floating debris when Greer spoke up, breaking a ten-hour silent streak.

"Did you check all the pods, Eli?"

Eli turned to look at him. The truth was he hadn't checked all the pods. There hadn't been time.

"I tried. There were so many. I didn't even think you were alive, I mean, Ginn told me..." stammered Eli.

"Ginn told you?!" bellowed Greer. "Did you check all of them? Even Lisa's?"

A tear edged its way down Eli's face. He tried to look at Greer but he couldn't bear the anger plastered over his face.

"I'm sorry, Greer. I tried..."

The two of them fell into silence, each contending with the ghosts that floated in space outside the shuttle.

Eli noticed a red light flashing on the dashboard.

"What is that?" said Greer.

"It's a warning," said Eli, scanning through the readouts displayed on the dash. "We're running out of power."

"I thought you said it might be a week until they get here."

"If I shut down all non-essential systems, I can probably buy us two days. But it's going to get cold in here."

"Do we have the communication stones?" asked Greer.

Eli looked away again, pretending to check the console. "No, I forgot to grab them."

**~~00~~**

"Sheppard, we're almost ready to jump again. It should only be another three hours," came Rodney's voice over the radio.

"Can we jump sooner?" Sheppard responded.

"Well, yes, but it would be risky and I don't think-"

"How many jumps do we have left to make?"

"If my calculations are correct, which, who are we kidding, they are-"

"Rodney!"

"Just one more."

Sheppard looked around the bridge. He could feel the eyes of every crewman on him; anxious minds pushed in on him from all sides. It had been almost two days since Stargate Command received Eli Wallace's distress call. There was no telling how long the people of the _Destiny_ would survive.

"Orders, sir?" said Major Burnette.

He took a deep breath. _We don't leave people behind._

"Take us out, Major."

******~~00~~**

When the _Elizabeth _arrived, Eli Wallace and Major Ronald Greer had already passed out from a lack of oxygen. Their shuttle was guided into the _Elizabeth's _bay and the two men were taken to the medical ward. The chief medical officer on board told Colonel Sheppard that if they had arrived even twenty minutes later, both of them would have died.

Teams were sent out to search the wreckage of the _Destiny. _Some pieces of ancient technology were recovered, but no recognizable bodies could be found. In the twenty hours necessary to bring the gate drive back to 100%, Sheppard continually sent teams to search for bodies. He took an F-302 out himself, only returning to the _Elizabeth_ when the doctor ordered him to rest.

Eli Wallace and Ronald Greer did not speak during the journey home to Earth.

**~~00~~**

General Jack O'Neill squinted against the glare of the sun as he took the podium overlooking rows of coffins, most of which were covered with American flags, though some had Canadian flags draped over them. The coffins were all empty. Jack looked to his left and saw Sam, Daniel, and Teal'c standing reverently at attention. Further down he saw John Sheppard and Eli Wallace, the young man Jack had met five years earlier and sent to the Icarus base to help unlock the 9th chevron, not knowing the fate he would meet there. Eli had lived through more trauma in a few years than most people do in their entire lives, and he hadn't asked for any of it.

"We are here today to mourn the passing of many brave men and women who died in the service of all mankind," began Jack. An audience of civilians stood off to one side of the rows of coffins; among them were husbands and wives, newly widowed. Jack wished he could tell them all where their spouses had been. If only they knew that the loved ones they mourned now had travelled further among the stars than any other humans in history.

"The soldiers we bury today were among the finest I have ever known. I was proud to command them, and we were all lucky to have them in our lives," he continued.

Eli Wallace thought of Chloe, Scott, Young, and all the other members of the mission who had died in their stasis pods on _Destiny. _Their families were there at the funeral, crying for them. But not all the dead had family here to mourn for them. Not the members of the Lucian Alliance like Varro, and most of all Ginn. He felt a tear run down his face. Looking out across the field, he saw Greer standing alone, dressed in his uniform, one arm in a sling. Eli made eye contact with the only other survivor of the _Destiny _for a moment before Greer turned around and walked away. Eli didn't blame him; he could hardly stand to be there himself.

**~~00~~**

"Boom, headshot!" yelled Eli into his headset. "Suck on that!"

Three weeks worth of collected mountain dew bottles, dirty clothes, and pizza boxes lay around his bedroom, evidence of a return to his pre-_Destiny _lifestyle.

Eli's character was reloading his sniper as a frag grenade blew next to him, resetting him to a spawn point. Suddenly a message appeared over top of the game, and the controller stopped responding.

"What the hell?" he said, rolling his chair closer to the screen. The message read:

**Is this what you've become?**

"Hey guys, are you seeing this?" he asked into his headset. There was no response. Eli's character was shot on the screen behind the message, and after a moment reset to another spawn point. The controller was still unresponsive.

**Dr. Rush was right about you all along, Eli.**

"Right about what? Who are you?"

**Remember the mission.**

The message disappeared.

"Dude! Do you want us to lose?" came a voice over the headset.

"No, sorry," said Eli, finding that his controller was working again, though he had racked up 5 more deaths in the game.

Eli looked at the clock on his nightstand. It was three in the morning.

The doorbell rang. Eli ran down the stairs and opened the door to find the pizza delivery guy, holding the extra large pizza and energy drink he had ordered.

"Hey, man."

"Extra large with pepperoni, sausage, and extra bacon?"

"That's me," said Eli, reaching into his pocket to grab his wallet.

"Remember the mission, Eli."

Eli stopped what he was doing and looked at the delivery guy.

"What did you just say?"

"I said your total is twenty eighty-six."

"Right." Eli paid for the pizza and then closed the door. He picked up the house phone and dialed the secure number General O'Neill had given him. It rang once before someone answered.

"This is Sergeant Harriman. How can I help you, Eli?"

**~~00~~**

Jack dropped opened the cooler sitting on the dock next to him and grabbed another Bud Light. He opened the can and took a long drink. The fishing pole he had propped up against the chair, line cast into the water, stood perfectly still. He could see the reflection of the trees on the far side of the pond.

"Catch anything, General?" came a voice from behind him.

"What are you doing here, Eli?" asked Jack, not turning around.

"Walter said I might find you here," said Eli.

"Want a beer?" asked Jack as he reached into the cooler again. "Have a seat."

"Thanks, General," said Eli, taking the can and sitting down on the cooler.

"Call me Jack, please. I'm off duty," said Jack.

"We have to finish what _Destiny _started," said Eli.

Jack turned to look at Eli, setting his beer down.

"Do please continue..." said Jack.

"The _Elizabeth _can travel further in a week than the _Destiny _could in a millenia. Rush figured out that the ship had originally been sent by the ancients to find the origin point of a signal being broadcast from somewhere far beyond our galaxy. Rush believed it was a signal leftover from the creation of our universe; that it is coming from the point in space where sentience first evolved. I don't know if he was right, but obviously it was important enough that the ancients sent a ship there, knowing it would take thousands of years to arrive. Don't we owe it to them, to Rush, to finish the mission? To find out what the ancients were looking for? We already have a ship ready to make the trip, and for all we know, it might not take more than a few weeks to get there and back, and then -"

"Eli!" shouted Jack. "Shut up, will you! I agree with you. Now we just have to convince the IOA."

Eli took a deep breath. "Sorry sir, I just got excited."

"I know, Eli," said Jack.

Eli looked at the mountain of empty beer cans piled up beside the cooler he was sitting on, and then at the unmoving fishing pole at Jack's feet.

"There aren't any fish in this pond, are there?" he asked.

"Not a one."

**~~00~~**

Two weeks later, after a few long meetings with the IOA, Jack, Sam, and Eli stood in the gate room as Earth's Stargate spun.

"Incoming wormhole," said Walter. "It's Atlantis' IDC."

"Open the iris," said General Carter.

The familiar rush of the event horizon opening up within the ring of the Stargate cast a blue hue into the room., and no sooner had the wormhole settled than Colonel John Sheppard came walking through.

"John," said Jack.

"Jack," he responded, taking a look at Sam and Eli. "What's this all about?"

"You've been reassigned," said Sam. "I believe you've met Mr. Wallace?"

"Kino log entry 12. It's been 18 hours since Greer and I escaped the _Destiny _on board the shuttle. It's hard to believe it's been almost three years since I managed to repair my stasis pod. I'm not sure I would have tried so hard if I knew this was what I'd wake up to. I've had plenty of time to explore the shuttle's computer. Rush managed to transfer a good chunk of _Destiny's _archives onto the hard drive. A lot of the important stuff like addresses, including the original destination of the ship. I searched the computer a dozen times though, and I can't find any trace of Ginn. I guess there just wasn't room for her. I swear though, it's like I can still feel her presence, like she's sitting right here next to me."

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron**

**********Also available at stargategenesis/dot/com**


	3. Allies and Enemies

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 3:**

"**Allies and Enemies"**

A light blue business suit, matching pencil skirt, simple black blouse and black leather heels did a near perfect job of hiding the fact that Teyla Emmagan, skilled warrior and leader of the Athosians, was anything other than a typical twenty-first century woman. Beyond appearing somewhat more vital than most, there was nothing, for example, to suggest that she spent her childhood throwing sharp objects at things or that she could kill you with a twig. Walking through the underground passageways of Stargate Command, flanked by General Samantha Carter and Dr. Rodney McKay, the uninitiated might mistake her for a visiting diplomat or a member of the International Oversight Committee.

"I could not help but notice that the clothing your women wear is not particularly well suited to combat," she said to Carter.

"Ha, and you're going to tell me that floor length loin cloth and sports bra you're always wearing are?" Carter replied.

"Hmm… With the extra ZPMs Sheppard took it'll take us at least another six months to build our reserves back up," McKay mumbled to his tablet computer.

"Relax, Rodney. You've got more than enough to hold you over," said Carter dismissively.

"Hey just because we have the capacity to build our own ZPMs now doesn't mean we can afford to be reckless with them," he retorted. "I remind you there are still plenty of worlds out there in need of protection from the Wraith and seeing as I'm probably a pretty high value target by now that pretty much includes any planet I happen to be standing on."

"Oh please" she said. "You just want to reactivate Atlantis's cloning laboratory."

"Well an army of me's would probably do a much better job defending the galaxy than anything Sheppard might find," said McKay dejectedly.

"What exactly might John find?" Teyla asked. "No one has explained his mission to me since my return from Washington."

Rodney and Samantha exchanged a look. For a moment, they silently debated which of them was most qualified to answer before Carter spoke up.

"We're not exactly sure," she said. "Before the _Destiny_ was destroyed it was investigating a message embedded in the universe's cosmic microwave background radiation, a message from the beginning of time."

"And what was this message?" Teyla asked.

"A set of coordinates," Rodney replied. "Presumably the place where we can find whoever or whatever created the message in the first place. I like to think of it as a sort of Genesis Address."

"Wow Rodney, did you come up with that one yourself?" Carter asked.

"Yes as a matter of fact I did," he replied.

"I do not think Colonel Sheppard would appreciate you taking such a liberty," Teyla observed.

At the end of the corridor the three of them went their separate ways as Teyla and Rodney stepped through the steel blast doors of the SGC Gate Room, and General Carter ascended a spiral staircase to watch their departure from Stargate Control.

Two levels above, Dr. Daniel Jackson sat atop his cherry oak desk and clasped the hand of his young protégé Dr. Bailey Evans. As he smiled and praised her in Goa'uld, Evans smiled back at him and blushed. Behind her a figure dressed entirely in black brushed up against her shoulder.

Startled, Evans lost her balance, jerked her hand out of Daniel's grasp and fell into the waiting arms of Vala Mal Doran. Still slightly off balance, she offered no resistance as Vala snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close.

"You know it's a shame you and I are headed for different galaxies," came her soft teasing voice. "I think I'd really enjoy getting to know you better."

Daniel cleared his throat loudly.

"Oh relax, Daniel," Vala scolded before turning back to Evans with a smile. "I'm sure we could make room for one more."

With a flourish, she gave Evans a twirl and released her to regain her balance with the aid of a nearby bookshelf.

"So Daniel," Vala continued, moving to stand at his side. "I heard your little playmate got her first big-girl assignment."

"Well then you heard correctly," he said. "She's going to be the Communications Officer aboard the _Elizabeth_."

"Then I guess that means you'll be even further away than I realized," Vala said, feigning sadness. "Well it's probably for the best. Daniel here is the jealous type, and it just wouldn't do for me to be seen gallivanting around Atlantis with a girl one-sixteenth my age."

At the mention of Atlantis, Daniel removed his head from his hands and got to his feet. "Vala and I need to be going now," he said, and ushered her hurriedly out of his office before she could come up with some parting belittlement of his star pupil.

"Hmm… Jeannie's modifications shaved another five percent off the _Elizabeth's_ overall power consumption," said Rodney.

"That is excellent news," said Teyla. "And how is your sister?"

"Arrogant," quipped Rodney. "As usual."

"I've heard it runs in the family," said Daniel, half leading half dragging Vala into the Gate Room. "We all set to get underway?" he asked.

"Yes, thankfully this time there'll be no pit-stop at Midway Station," said Rodney. "We are cleared for a direct jump to Pegasus."

"And to think they made me take a layover in Utah," said Daniel.

Behind them Sergeant Harriman began the dialing sequence, and the eight chevrons of Atlantis's gate address lit up and locked into place. As the final chevron was encoded, a bright flash emanated from the gate and a violent bubbling vortex exploded out into the room. Despite having already traveled by gate several thousand times, Daniel Jackson couldn't help but lean back, slightly weary of its power. He relaxed as a stable wormhole settled into place, its surface gleaming and undulating within the confines of the ring. Then he, Teyla, Vala, and Rodney stepped through the event horizon and from one galaxy to another.

**~~00~~**

As Teyla's heels clacked against the stone floor of the Atlantis Gate Room she registered the symphony of clicks produced by eight P-90 submachine guns being simultaneously shouldered and cocked, as well as the distinctive hum of Ronon Dex's energy pistol charging up. Instinctively, she assumed a defensive crouch and produced a short knife seemingly from the air. Unfortunately, her tight pencil skirt and stockings prevented this gesture from being as intimidating as it could have been.

Vala, on the other hand, appeared much more threatening in her black SG-1 jumpsuit and combat boots, her own P-90 aimed squarely at the marine on her left flank. Daniel had adopted a look of contemplation, and was carefully studying Ronon and each of the eight marines as though trying to solve a particularly challenging puzzle, while Rodney hyperventilated and hid his face behind his tablet.

"Woah hey don't shoot! For crying out loud is this how we're greeting old friends now?" he asked.

"You're late," said Richard Woolsey, descending the last few steps from the Control Room. He appeared calm, but there was uneasiness in his voice and he didn't instruct the marines to lower their weapons. Beside him Ronon looked livid. His nostrils flared and he adjusted his aim so as to be level with Rodney's head.

"Um… I suppose that's my fault," said Daniel. "I may have taken a few extra minutes to say goodbye to Dr. Evans. If I had known the city was on such high alert I would've been more punctual."

Mr. Woolsey sighed and took a step toward him. "Dr. Jackson, the four of you were supposed to be here fifty-six hours ago," he said.

**~~00~~**

"Harriman what the hell just happened?" demanded General Carter.

"I'm not sure ma'am. The wormhole just suddenly disengaged. It could mean that whatever caused the malfunction has been resolved," he replied nervously.

"I don't buy it. I want to know why it chose this moment, and I want to know yesterday. Did Atlantis confirm their arrival before the gate shut down?" she asked, turning to Lieutenant Elena Perez.

"No ma'am. We've been out of contact for the last thirty minutes," she said.

Just then an alarm began to sound in the Control Room and the SGC's Stargate spun.

"Unscheduled off-world activation," said Harriman. "It's Atlantis."

Lieutenant Perez put a hand to her headset. "I've got an incoming transmission for you ma'am," she said. "Audio and video." On the screen above her head Mr. Woolsey appeared looking more than a little drained.

"Have you got them?" Carter asked hurriedly.

"Yes," he replied. "They came through a few minutes ago, but so far they've been unable to account for their whereabouts these last few days. At the moment we're exploring the possibility that a safety protocol was activated to prevent their patterns from being reintegrated on arrival."

General Carter crossed her arms and took a deep breath. "Woolsey," she said. "This could be some sort of attack."

"I know," he said. "I'm having Carson check them out. Then they'll be confined to quarters under guard."

**~~00~~**

Rodney whined piteously as Dr. Carson Beckett drew another blood sample. His forehead glistened with sweat and his breathing was short and rapid. "Oh god I'm a clone aren't I?" he asked fearfully. "The real Rodney is still out there being tortured and I'm just some Wraith scientist's lab rat."

"Rodney, your blood-work shows no signs of telomeric degradation, abnormal methylation, or anything else that would indicate cloning," Carson replied in a soothing Scottish accent. "And I'll remind you that clones can live very fulfilling lives."

Rodney let out another small whine. "I'm sorry Carson. I didn't mean to imply that being a clone was somehow a bad thing. I would just hate for you to discover that I'm some secret Wraith weapon bent on destroying Atlantis," He said before continuing quickly. "I mean… I would want you to discover that because I'm the real Rodney, and I don't want Atlantis to be destroyed, but you won't discover that because I'm me and not some despicable clone."

Carson sighed and put a hand on Rodney's shoulder. "Do me a favor and try to get some rest, okay?" he said.

Rodney nodded and two armed marines escorted him from the infirmary.

**~~00~~**

In her quarters, Teyla paced in frustration. Ronon leaned up against the door with his arms crossed and his right hand still clutching his energy pistol. Now fairly sure that his friend was who she said she was, his anger had faded to amusement.

"Relax," he said. "Once Carson gets through with his tests I can let you out of here. Just do your little meditation thing or something."

"You do not understand. Until we know for certain what has happened, this incident must be treated as an attack on Atlantis," she said. "Relocating my people is becoming increasingly difficult, and if this planet has been compromised we may have to abandon it as well."

Teyla sank to the floor in front of her bed. Her eyes closed and she ran her hands through her hair. "Soon there will be no worlds left from which my people are not refugees," she said.

Ronon considered her thoughtfully, then holstered his gun and walked towards her. "Well," he said, extending a hand. "If the Wraith do know we're here, we can always kill 'em."

Teyla gave him an exasperated smile before taking his hand and getting to her feet. Then she leaned forward and whispered something inaudible in Ronon's ear. His eyes glazed over as she squeezed his hand and looked straight into his eyes. For Ronon the world began to fade as Teyla's next word reverberated seductively inside his mind.

"Sleep."

**~~00~~**

In the Control Room, Rodney McKay reviewed the results of the SGC's latest gate diagnostic while Daniel Jackson leaned against his desk staring pensively at the floor.

"Has Carson completed his tests?" Woolsey asked, joining them.

"Mmm… No," said Rodney distractedly. "He still hasn't signed off on Teyla or Vala, but apparently we're clean."

"Any idea what caused the malfunction?"

"Actually… Yes," Rodney replied, happily. "And it wasn't a malfunction. Near as I can tell, someone inserted a command into the Midway Station mainframe to bounce us back and forth between the station's Milky Way and Pegasus pattern buffers."

"Why would someone do that?"

"I have no idea," said Rodney. "I don't even know who besides me who could have done it. Well with the obvious exception of General Carter, but the point is—"

"Sir we have an unidentified vessel approaching the planet," Lieutenant Bates cut in, and as he spoke an image of the planet appeared on the Control Room's main view screen. A small red dot was positioning itself a few hundred kilometers up on its far side.

"Has Jumper 4 returned from their survey?" Woolsey asked.

"No sir, they're holding position on the mainland," he replied.

"Good. Cloak the city, and maintain radio silence."

On screen the dot held its position as a transmission was intercepted and began to play over the Control Room's speakers. The voice was neither human nor Wraith.

"I am Commander Salek of the Vanir," it said. "I understand your desire to keep the location of your city hidden, and request that you send a ship and two delegates to rendezvous with me at my present coordinates. I have come to negotiate an alliance."

**~~00~~**

In her room, Vala Mal Doran removed an 8-ball from her dresser and shook it. "Am I an evil doppelganger?" she asked, before turning the ball over to reveal the answer, "very doubtful."

"Hmph. Maybe they'll take your word for it," she said bitterly, tossing it over her shoulder.

There was a thump as it hit the floor followed quickly by two more thumps out in the hallway. Curious, she opened the door a crack and discovered the two marines sent to guard her unconscious on the floor and a shadowy figure disappearing around a corner.

**~~00~~**

"The last time we encountered the Vanir they kidnapped us, destroyed half a dozen gates and killed thousands of people," said Daniel.

"Ok I admit it wasn't the greatest first contact, but the Vanir are an advanced alien race with technology comparable to that of the Ancients," Rodney replied. "There's just no way we can pass up an opportunity like this."

"And if it's a trap?" Woolsey asked.

"Hey maybe it is, but at the very least I want to know how they found us, and it's not like we aren't holding any cards here," said Rodney. "If we have to we can blow a single ship right outta the sky."

"Alright," said Woolsey. "I want the two of you in Jumper 3. Instruct Jumper 4 to provide backup and remain cloaked until you reach the rendezvous coordinates. If they haven't pinpointed our position yet I'd like to keep it that way."

**~~00~~**

Vala peered around a corner and caught a glimpse of her guards' assailant. Moving stealthily and holding Ronon's pistol aloft, Teyla Emmagan reached the end of the hallway and entered a transporter. With Vala watching, she scanned the onscreen diagram of the city before selecting the transporter at the center of the North-Pier.

When the doors closed, Vala turned around and headed back towards her room. Still trying to understand exactly what she had just witnessed, she didn't notice that two more marines had arrived and were attempting to rouse their stunned comrades until she was nearly on top of them. When she finally looked up, her shock at their presence momentarily froze her, giving the men plenty of time to reach for their stunners.

"Um… I realize how this must look," she began, but dove back around the corner as two shots whizzed by her head. Recovering quickly, she sprinted back down the hallway to the transporter. The marines gave chase and one shot flew over her shoulder to slam against the back wall. Sparks flew past her ear and just as she managed to locate the transporter Teyla had activated only moments before two more shots rang out and she was struck twice in the small of her back. She fell against the wall and started to slip into unconsciousness, but the doors of the transporter were already closing and the marines didn't catch up in time to pull her out.

**~~00~~**

"Mr. Woolsey," came the agitated voice of Major Miles Romanoff. "The men I assigned to guard Miss Mal Doran are unconscious in the infirmary, and your Ronon appears to have been similarly incapacitated. We cannot seem to rouse them."

"Do we know where Teyla and Vala are?" Woolsey asked.

Major Romanoff stood stiffly to attention. "No sir," he said, "But Vala was last seen entering a transporter. As I understand it, she was stunned before the doors could fully close."

"Organize a sweep of the city's transporters," says Woolsey.

"At once," said Romanoff.

**~~00~~**

"What does that look like to you?" Daniel asked.

Rodney swallowed hard and wiped away some of the sweat that had already appeared on his forehead. "Like a Vanir starship," he said.

"Odd," said Daniel. "That's what it looks like to me too."

Rodney swallowed a second time. Daniel furrowed his brow and studied the shuttle's head's-up-display. Arms crossed, his eyes shifted to the ship hovering a few thousand meters ahead then turned and gave Rodney a once over as well. "You should let me do the talking," he said. Rodney nodded.

Just then the being calling itself Salek of the Vanir appeared on their view screen.

"Greetings," it said. "I believe this encounter will be much more fruitful than our previous meeting."

"How did you find us?" Daniel asked brusquely, but Salek didn't seem put off and responded with something close to pride.

"We discovered one of the gates you use to bridge the gap between your own galaxy and this one," it said. "Your security measures prevented us from following its matter stream, but the data flow necessary for your diagnostic programs is not nearly so well protected."

"Then you're the reason we spent the last two days in limbo," Rodney blurted.

Salek turned his head slightly, presumably studying the image of Dr. McKay being received by his own ship.

"We apologize for any inconvenience that may have caused you, however it was necessary if we were to make contact with your race."

"Well if you're here to help us fight the Wraith, we'd love to know what you have in mind," said Daniel nonchalantly.

**~~00~~**

Something squeezed Vala around the waist, and she registered the scraping sound of distressed metal. As she lay on the floor of the transporter the pressure around her midsection dissipated only to return a moment later. When her vision cleared and the dizziness subsided she realized the sliding doors of the transporter were trying repeatedly to close with her only halfway inside. When they had opened to deliver her to the North-Pier her unconscious body had toppled out onto the floor. Now someone else was apparently trying to activate the heavily damaged transporter remotely.

She sat up and looked around, placing a hand on the door to stop it closing on her again. In the corner a tuft of bamboo shoots sprouted up from a large purple pot. She dragged it over and wedged it between the struggling transporter doors to prevent anyone from following her, then limped away clutching at her waist. Up ahead was the room she remembered Rodney had dubbed "The Cavern."

Inside, brilliantly colored crystals hung down from the ceiling and stretched up from the floor like great rows of pointed teeth stained an unnatural orange hue. An array of wires ran through each one, encased, but still visible beneath the crystal's translucent surface. A trickle of gold colored liquid the consistency of syrup was constantly flowing from the ceiling and tiny drops of the stuff alternated between crystallizing around the scaffold of one Zero Point Module and falling onto a second below. It was a slow process, something akin to how stalactites and stalagmites were formed, but this room actually grew ZPMs, an incredible boon in the fight against the Wraith.

Vala crept up to the mouth of the cavern and peered inside. Teyla was fiddling with the controls and looked extremely agitated. As Vala watched she drew Ronon's gun and fired twice at a cylindrical container near the cavern's back wall, but both shots were dissipated by the vessel's immensely powerful force field. Inside, the gold liquid that was forever dripping from the ceiling bubbled fiercely.

It occurred to Vala that if the Wraith wanted to harm Atlantis this would be their primary target. There was nothing in the cavern that would be of value to a race lacking a sophisticated understanding of Lantean technology. Most of the ZPMs here were months away from generating any power, and completed ZPMs were kept under heavy guard near the city's center. It was possible the Wraith could overload one of the incomplete modules and destroy the facility, Vala thought, though Teyla certainly wasn't doing a very good job of that. On the contrary, she seemed intent on activating Rodney's safe shutdown procedures.

Something was off. It was almost certainly Teyla who had felled those two guards outside her door, but neither one had looked seriously injured. Now here she was with a golden opportunity to cripple Atlantis, but refusing to take it. She decided to take a chance. She stepped slowly into the room with her hands raised.

"Teyla?" she asked.

Teyla turned and stared coldly at her and when she spoke it was with the malevolent undertones of a Wraith queen. "Do you possess a second authorization code?" she asked.

"Why are you trying to disable this facility?" Vala asked, ignoring the question.

"Give me the code or you will die," Teyla replied raising Ronon's pistol, though despite her threat failing to switch it from its stun setting.

"I'll give it to you," said Vala edging closer. "Just let me get-" Vala dove between a row of orange-gold teeth, then drew a small handgun from her waistband, thankful that the guards had not been nearly as thorough as they should have been when she was searched on arrival. Teyla fired off several volleys, each one striking the back wall harmlessly. Crouching, Vala swung her own weapon out around a pillar and fired a single shot, knocking the gun from Teyla's hand. She stood up and advanced, inviting her supposedly disarmed opponent to surrender. Unfortunately for Vala, Teyla was at least as quick with a knife as she was with a gun and Vala had to swerve away to avoid her strikes. Still not wanting to seriously wound her, Vala holstered her gun and drew a knife of her own from a boot. Teyla came down on her as she pulled it up and their blades scraped to a halt dangerously close to each other's fingers. Now both combatants stepped back and sized one another up.

Teyla had been wielding knives since childhood and had used them to kill things much larger and stronger than Vala, though nothing quite so agile, and Vala had spent thousands of years as an unwilling host to a violent Goa'uld, handling ceremonial weapons of all sorts. Both were masters of close quarters combat.

Teyla's strange acts of pacifism had convinced Vala that she might be reasoned with, but now it seemed they were consigned to fight. As if to drive the point home Teyla lunged at her, bobbing and weaving to disguise her approach and ultimately landing a shallow cut to Vala's thigh. Luckily she had been able to parry the blow slightly, and used her momentum to swing around and return the favor to the back of Teyla's leg. She cried out, her own wound slightly deeper than Vala's. Taking the initiative, Vala swung low, forcing her to retreat and place most of her weight on one wounded leg. Teyla wobbled and with a shove from Vala toppled over, her knife clattering against the floor several yards away. Vala landed on top of her. Tossing aside her own knife, and raising a fist instead.

Suddenly, a small battalion of marines stormed into the room, each one leveling a Wraith Stunner at the pair and barking instructions to each other.

"Don't move," said one. "Put your hands on your head."

"She has a weapon," cried Teyla. "Shoot her now."

"What?" yelled Vala, outraged. "It's her you should be shooting."

The marines, accustomed to taking orders from Teyla fired in unison, and for the second time in as many hours Vala fell limply to the floor. Teyla shoved her off and stood up. Major Miles Romanoff approached warily.

"Are you hurt, ma'am?" He asked.

"No. Thank you Major. You and your men got here just in time. Now would you mind disarming her?" Teyla asked in her normal voice.

The Major bent down and removed the tiny handgun from Vala's waistband. He held it between two fingers and examined it as though trying to determine what it was.

"Where do you suppose she hid-" he began, but Teyla had already disappeared.

**~~00~~**

"So all you want is a few ZPMs and all the technology we use to build them and you'll take care of the Wraith for us?" Daniel asked in mock appreciation.

Unperturbed, Commander Salek replied, "We have cloning facilities lying dormant all over this region of space. With the energy of your ZPMs at our disposal we could raise vast armies to fight off our common enemy."

"Well it seems like an excellent idea to me," said Daniel. "Though I'm surprised these facilities of yours are still viable given how long your race has been in hiding. Anyway, I think if you can offer us something of similar value we might have a deal."

"Is the extermination of a hostile species that preys upon your race not enough?" Salek asked.

"Well not too long ago we considered you a hostile species, and seeing as we're about to help fill the galaxy with you it might be nice if we had some assurances," said Daniel. "I mean sure the Wraith are ornery, sadistic and unspeakably evil, but for all we know you could be just like them. You already have the hideous slimy looking alien bit down. In fact, you could turn out to be a whole lot worse given that the Wraith are just ragtag groups of cowardly shiftless-"

"Enough," said Salek, with poorly disguised hatred. "If it will persuade you to hand over the items we require, I will give you my word that the human race will not be harmed."

"Great," said Daniel, sounding relieved. "In that case I think we can get right down to it, but-ah before we do, would you mind explaining why your ship is giving off so many Wraith life signs?"

**~~00~~**

Teyla kept a brisk pace. Her mind was flooded with the will of a particularly determined Wraith queen and she struggled mightily to regain control. From within her skull the queen's voice cooed at her softly then screamed and thrusted her further down the hallway. She was nearing the center of the city now and there were people everywhere. She did her best to ignore the pain in her thigh where Vala had cut her, but it was making it even more difficult to resist the voice in her head. The queen's fury at losing the cavern had given her new strength. With all hope of replicating the technology there now extinguished she had set her sights on the storage facility where the city's spare ZPMs were kept. Another corner and she was there. Two marines were standing guard but Teyla slammed them against the door with enough force to dislodge an iratas bug, then tossed them aside like used up wads of tissue paper.

**~~00~~**

"Light 'em up," Daniel yelled into his com as Rodney jerked Jumper 3 out of the way of another volley.

At his command Jumper 4 dropped its cloak and appeared behind them. It let loose with its entire complement of six drones which performed several elegant pirouettes before slamming into the side of the pursuing Vanir ship. Explosions plummed along its length and its steady stream of fire ceased. Its engines flickered and died. Rodney pulled Jumper 3 around and was about to unleash a few drones of his own when the enemy ship did something strange. It blurred. Its edges became fuzzy and then pixilated. When the phenomenon faded what was left was not a Vanir starship, but a Wraith cruiser.

Daniel Jackson took control of the jumper and swung it back toward Atlantis.

"What are you doing?" Rodney asked. "We need to finish them off!"

"Cruisers are Wraith escorts right?" Daniel said hurriedly. "So where's the hive it was escorting?"

**~~00~~**

Teyla sat cross legged in the darkened prison that was her mind. Sweat poured from her brow as she concentrated hard on her true surroundings. She could feel the intense pressure of the Wraith queen pressing in on her. From the confines of her cell she managed to make out the low hum of a jumper firing up. She put a hand out and began to tap her fingers against the console she must be sitting in front of. She mimed the actions she knew her body was being forced to replicate outside in the real world. _Activate the inertial dampeners, open the Jumper Bay doors, engage primary thrusters._

With Teyla and half-a-dozen ZPMs on board, Jumper 5 flew away from the city at tremendous speed on a near vertical trajectory. From within her prison Teyla breathed deep and began to pry at the mind of the Wraith queen still holding her. A crack opened and the blood curdling screams of a thousand meals burst forth. Bile climbed into Teyla's throat as she felt the life draining from them into her. This was the worst part of her gift. The ability to know what it truly was to be a Wraith. Living off the very essence of another being. Utterly unfeeling. Impervious to their pain. The perfect predator.

Teyla struggled briefly to keep her composure then waded further into the depths of her enemy's consciousness. The memories and emotions of a thousand years rose up to distract her but she ignored them and continued on. She could feel the Wraith queen pushing her back, but not hard enough to risk severing their connection. For a moment there was a stalemate and the two combatants merely stared at each other over an expanse of nothingness, each attempting to project their own will on to that of the other, until Teyla finally won out and from the eyes of the queen she watched as her own jumper shot up from the planet's surface. Around her, thousands of Wraith prepared to boil the patch of ocean she had emerged from and the full scope of her situation was revealed to her. A Wraith hive ship had parked itself right on top of Atlantis.

Teyla's mind reeled. How had this happened? How could it be that even now the sky wasn't filling with drones to erase this terrible threat from existence?

Suddenly a voice broke into Teyla's mind and she was pulled back into herself.

"Jumper 5 this is Jumper 3 approaching your position. Do you copy?"

From inside her prison Teyla recognized the voice of Rodney McKay and her response was automatic.

"Rodney this is Teyla. Prepare to fire your drones on my mark."

Teyla concentrated hard on her next move. Inside her mind she placed both hands out in front of her and held them as though she were the one at the controls. She closed her fists tightly over the place where the steering mechanism should be, and with immense willpower jammed it as far down as it would go. The jumper flipped a full one hundred and eighty degrees before Teyla let go to slam her left hand down hard on the spot where the cargo bay door's emergency release ought to be. The air inside the jumper was instantly ripped out into space along with all six ZPMs and a handful of emergency provisions and pieces of scientific equipment. The force of the ejection shoved Teyla back into her seat and robbed her of speech for a moment, but when the bulkhead doors clanged shut and the cockpit repressurized, she screamed for Rodney to let his drones fly before bearing down on the controls and sending the jumper plummeting back toward the planet.

Rodney heard her and took aim at the field of debris released from her hold. It was only after he fired that he managed to make out the familiar orange glow of the floating ZPMs, and by then it was too late.

"We need to be far away from here," he whimpered but Daniel was way ahead of him.

With a swift jerk he grabbed the controls and threw Jumper 3 into a dive and they were only a few hundred meters behind Jumper 5 when an explosion ripped through the vacuum of space to collide with the planet's atmosphere. A fireball erupted and spread out above them, but the main force of the blast was deflected. Onboard the jumpers, Daniel, Teyla, and Rodney experienced only a mild shock wave.

Above the atmosphere fire ripped through the hovering Wraith hive ship, its eerily familiar cloak dropping away in favor of a shield. Meanwhile, drones began to fly up from the city and rocket past the two falling jumpers to finish it off.

**~~00~~**

Back on Atlantis, Ronon and the others woke up as the queen's hold over them was broken. The hive and all on board had been reduced to ashes.

In the infirmary, Carson tended to Teyla's victims while Major Romanoff apologized profusely to Vala for his men having fired on her... twice. Rodney prepared a patch to fix the security flaw that allowed the city's gate to be traced, and Mr. Woolsey sat in his high backed command chair rubbing his temples. When Teyla appeared outside his office he motioned for her to enter and requested that she close the door behind her. Teyla obliged and walked slowly to his desk. When she arrived she placed both hands on its surface and leaned over to whisper gravely, "We may have a problem."

Woolsey looked up at her.

"You mean that the Wraith have inexplicably gained access to Lantean cloaking technology? And that by some spectacular coincidence they've simultaneously developed what appears to be a more than passing familiarity with a hostile alien race in possession of advanced tactical capabilities?" he asked unhappily.

"Yes," she replied simply. "The Vanir know a great deal about us, as well as Atlantis. What will we do if they have joined forces with the Wraith?"

Woolsey stood up and walked around his desk to face her.

"We could run," he said. "But I think we've done enough of that lately, and we're not the ill-equipped expedition team that arrived here eight years ago."

"Then we fight," said Teyla. "On our terms."

Woolsey nodded and the two leaders from galaxies separated by untold parsecs of space shook hands and smiled.

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**

**************Also available at stargategenesis/dot/com**


	4. The Last Wraith on Earth

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 4**

"**The Last Wraith on Earth"**

"So, that's the gist of it," finished Dr. Rodney McKay, standing at the head of the conference room in Stargate Command. Around the table sat General Samantha Carter, Colonel John Sheppard, and Colonel Cameron Mitchell. "Atlantis is screwed, Earth is screwed, we're all screwed."

"Don't be melodramatic, Rodney," said Sam. "Atlantis has faced worse threats before, and she's still standing. We have you and your team to thank for that. It won't be any different this time."

"Sure, sure, no pressure," said Rodney. "Just leave it to good ol' McKay to save the day, again."

"We always do, Rodney," said Cameron.

"Even so, it might be best if I were transferred back to Atlantis to help out," said John.

"We've talked about this, John," interrupted Sam. "We need you commanding the _Elizabeth _for the Genesis mission."

"With all due respect, General, the Genesis mission is academic. The people of the Pegasus galaxy are counting on us!" said John.

"And we won't let them down. Atlantis is in excellent hands," said Sam.

"You can say that again," said Rodney.

"While the _Elizabeth _is the only currently operational Gateship,the _Vanity _and the _Thor _have all been outfitted with the latest weapons and shielding technology, and are en route to Atlantis now to rendezvous with the _Daedalus,_" said Sam.

"The captains were both personally vetted by me," said Cameron. "Two more ships isn't much, but we can't afford to send any more. The fleet is still under construction, and we are going to need all the ships we can get if the Lucian Alliance makes a move. At the very least, the _Vanity _and the _Thor_ should help you hold off the Wraith and the Vanir until you figure out what the hell is going on over there."

"Thank you for coming, Rodney, and tell Woolsey I'm sorry he couldn't make it," said Sam.

"You can tell that old bastard I say hello too," said Cameron.

"I'll be sure to pass it along," said Rodney.

"Meeting dismissed," said Carter.

Everyone got up from their seats and started heading for the door.

"Actually, John, could you hang back for a moment?" asked Sam.

John stopped and walked back to the conference table.

"What can I do for you, General?" said John dismissively.

"Oh lighten up. Atlantis will be fine. You're going to be the commander of an expedition to a corner of the universe that can't even be seen from Earth. What is there to be sour about?" said Sam.

"Yeah, yeah. Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life, go boldly. I got it. Can I go now?" asked John.

Sam smiled. "Sure. I just need you to run a quick errand for me."

"And what's that?"

"Oh, you're just going to meet an old friend."

**~~00~~**

Todd the Wraith exhaled sharply as he depressed the plunger of the syringe in his arm. The slightly fluorescent green liquid inside rushed into his veins, and he felt an immediate wave of relief. The serum Carson Beckett had created shortly after Atlantis landed on Earth altered Wraith DNA to remove the ability or desire to feed, but the effects were short-lived and required regular injections.

Unlike the original formula, which created the hybrid Michael, the new serum left the subject with a completely Wraith physiology, except for the lack of feeding pads. As a result, ordinary food was not sufficient to keep the subject alive. Each injection that Todd gave himself was laced with a compound derived from the venom of the iratus bug which provided all the nutrients a Wraith would normally obtain from feeding. Chemical dependency was immediate, but the drug kept Todd at peak physical health, and ever since Beckett had engineered a way to synthesize it, the supply was virtually limitless.

Tossing the used syringe into a waste bin, Todd turned back to his workbench. He was working on a way to interface ancient communication stones with modern video relay tech. If it was successful, ships would be able to communicate across infinite distances via video link without the assistance of a stargate. It was one of many projects Todd had worked on while detained at Area 51. He looked out the closest window at a vast stretch of desert. A green and blue lizard skittered across the ground in the distance. Todd sighed.

When Atlantis had landed on Earth three years earlier, Todd argued that he was an ally of Earth, and that no harm would come from his release. John Sheppard fought to keep Todd prisoner, and met little resistance. It was Beckett who suggested that Todd be allowed to operate a laboratory at Area 51, after the serum was stabilized. Though Stargate Command deemed Todd to be too much of a liability to be released, they were not above taking advantage of his genius and knowledge of alien technology.

The adaptation of the gate drive to a _Daedalus-_class ship was largely made possible by Todd's innovations, using the knowledge he had gained when adapting ZPMs to power wraith hive ships. He was there at every turn, pushing human technology forward with little thanks. Still, as time went on, the people of Stargate Command and Area 51 began to trust him. Todd no longer wore restraints, and he was allowed to come and go as he pleased within the Area 51 compound.

It was no surprise to Todd when he heard footsteps entering his lab. Still staring at the lizard making its way across scorched earth, he adopted a familiar drawl as he addressed his old ally.

"John Sheppard," he said slowly. "What brings you to my humble laboratory?"

Todd turned to look at the colonel, who looked weary, despite his still vibrant youth.

"I'm on an 'aliens stranded on Earth tour.' After I leave here, I'm going to see Alf," said Sheppard. He walked over to the workbench and picked up what looked like a Goa'uld healing device, except that it was covered in purple organic-looking tendrils. He frowned and put the device back where he found it.

Todd returned the answer with a cold stare. "I suspect the true reason for your visit... is to assess my value to the Genesis mission."

"You got me," said Sheppard, raising his hands. "Thing is, I already made my assessment, years ago. They might think you've changed, that it's safe to let you have access to all of our best technology, but I know better, and I will _not _endanger _my _crew just because you've invented a few gadgets."

Sheppard turned away, breathing heavily. When he turned back, Todd was still standing still, watching him.

"You have reason to distrust me, John Sheppard," he said. "I do not expect you to recommend me for the mission. I have long since accepted my… position here."

Todd held up his hands, palms out. His skin was smooth, with any trace of the healing pads of the Wraith erased by the serum. "Though I may look Wraith, I have been cured of all the things that define the Wraith, including my… lust for power."

Sheppard looked at Todd's hands, then back at his face. "I don't care what drugs Beckett put you on. You'll always be a Wraith."

The Colonel turned and walked out of the lab, leaving Todd alone with his experiments.

**~~00~~**

The Trenalian Helbeast, or "Sparky," as he was known around Area 51, stalked back and forth in his enclosure, wearing down the floor. He did this every night at the same time. Back on Trenalia, his species slept during the day and hunted at night, using an evolved camouflage ability to stalk their prey ruthlessly. The helbeasts had a limitless appetite, and with no competitors at the top of the food chain, they often hunted their prey to near extinction, which until the intervention of SG-16 had included the primitive Trenalian people.

Trenalian Helbeasts resemble Earth's timber wolves, if timber wolves were six feet tall, with tough exoskeletons and barbed tails poisonous enough to kill even a Jaffa warrior in peak health within minutes. Sparky stopped pacing and snarled at the attending technician, testing the blue energy field that held him with his tail. Blue sparks spit up from the surface of the field in protest.

"Woah there buddy," said Jerry the technician, looking up from his Nintendo DS. "No need to get testy."

Sparky narrowed his eyes and flicked his tail back and forth. His exoskeleton shimmered and began to disappear, until only a slight distortion remained where the helbeast had been standing. Jerry sighed, and hit a button on the control panel in front of him. The energy field changed from a blue hue to a red one, revealing the purple silhouette of Sparky.

"I thought we got over this, Sparks," said Jerry. "You don't hide from me, and I don't leave the field on a random rotation. I know how much it annoys you."

Sparky shivered like a dog shaking water off its fur, and his natural color returned. Defeated, he sulked to a far corner of the enclosure and curled up into a ball, sighing heavily as he rested his head on the ground.

"Good boy," said Jerry, returning his attention to _Pokemon Black Version 2. _The Castelia City gym wasn't going to beat itself.

**~~00~~**

"He would be a danger to the mission. There's no way we can predict how he'll behave," said John.

"You've worked with him several times before, John," came Sam's voice over the phone. "I seem to recall him saving the lives of everyone on Atlantis more than once."

"We worked with him when we had no other choice," said John. "With all due respect, General, we do have a choice this time. We don't need Todd, and I see no reason to risk his presence on the mission."

"I want you to stay at Area 51 for a few days anyway," said Sam. "Regardless of whether Todd comes on the mission, he is responsible for a lot of the tech that we've installed on the _Elizabeth. _He's working on an ansible device based on communication stone technology, and I'd like to see if we can get a working prototype before the mission launches."

"I'll babysit if I have to, but I am not changing my mind about Todd," said John.

"While you're there, you might consider taking a tour. When I was working at Area 51 there were always exciting experiments going on, and ever since we expanded the number of teams and off-world missions at Stargate Command, they've been getting loads of new toys to play with," said Sam. "They even have a Trenalian Helbeast in captivity right now."

"Just what I need," said John. "More terrifying monsters to play with."

"Have a good night, John," said Sam.

"Right back at you, General," he replied.

John hung up the phone. He was sitting in one of the modest guest compartments at Area 51. He turned on the TV and switched to the SyFy channel, which was airing _Starship Troopers. _He liked to escape from reality on his time off with television about strange aliens intent on destroying all human life.

**~~00~~**

The ship log of the _Destiny_ hovered in the air above Todd's desk in his private quarters. The desk around the holofield projector was cluttered with finished Sudoku books. Todd had taken up the number based puzzles in the last year as a means of combating the oppressive boredom of life on the compound. At first he had reveled in the sheer mass of technology from worlds in the Milky Way, Pegasus, Ida, and Ori galaxies available for him to study and improve upon, but revolutionizing technology for the humans every week could only entertain him for so long. Even genetically altered Wraith geniuses needed hobbies.

News of the loss of the _Destiny _and the arrival of the database files salvaged from the ship had peaked Todd's interest, however. At the very least, they provided new reading material. He had long since read every mission report from Stargate Command and the Atlantis expedition. General Carter had recommended Todd for the Genesis mission, and he was eager to once again travel the stars, rather than experience them vicariously through unimaginative mission logs. The decision had apparently been left to John Sheppard, and Todd wasn't sure if he could be convinced.

The relationship between the young colonel and the wraith prisoner had been tenuous at best since Atlantis arrived on Earth. Though Todd had warned Atlantis of the ZPM-outfitted hive ship heading for Earth, he had also been responsible for the modified ship's creation. Sheppard had little reason to trust him. If he argued his case, the colonel would only become more adamant in his decision. He needed Sheppard to believe that he was a changed Wraith, regardless of how true it actually was.

Todd looked over at his bed, which was crisply made, with a layer of dust over the sheets. He never slept; a well-fed Wraith did not require or want sleep, except during hibernation to allow human worlds to repopulate before a culling. Sleep was a sign of weakness, and an unconscious mind was a vulnerable one. Vulnerable was not among Todd's traits, even here on the compound. He always had a way out.

**~~00~~**

"Shift's up!" said Henry, walking into the room and tapping Jerry's feet, which were propped up on the control console. Jerry looked up from his game and smiled.

"About time," he said, putting his feet down and closing the Nintendo in his hand. "You're late."

"Oh, I wouldn't want you to have to spend an extra fifteen minutes sitting on your ass playing Yu-Gi-Mon," said Henry. He sat down and looked over the control panel, and then at the enclosure.

"It's Pokemon, and at least I don't read terrible conspiracy theory novels," said Jerry, pointing to the copy of Dan Brown's latest attempt in Henry's hand.

"Hey... where's Sparky?" asked Henry.

Jerry looked at the enclosure to see that it was empty.

"He's just hiding," he said, punching a button on the console. The field shifted from red to green, but the enclosure was still empty. He stared at the corner where he had last seen the Trenalian Helbeast, and then turned to look at Henry, who was equally speechless. He hit the button again, turning the field yellow. He jabbed the button several more times, but the field remained empty.

A sharp clicking sound echoed from the hallway behind the control console. Henry turned to look, and was opening his mouth to warn Jerry when he was impaled by a shimmering distortion in the air.

**~~00~~**

"My mother always told me that violence doesn't solve anything," said Dizzy.

"Really?" said Lt. Rasczak. "I wonder what the city founders of Hiroshima would say about that."

"They wouldn't say anything. Hiroshima was destroyed," said Carmen.

"Correct," said Rasczak. "Naked force has resolved more conflicts throughout history than any other factor. The contrary opinion, that violence doesn't solve anything, is wishful thinking at its worst; people who forget that always die."

Suddenly the movie was drowned out by loud sirens. _Starship Troopers_ blinked out and was replaced by a message on the screen that read: EMERGENCY LOCKDOWN. John stood up and began walking to the door as it was opened. A young officer whose shirt was half untucked looked into John's room and then back into the hallway again, frantic.

"What's going on, Major?" asked John.

"There's been an escape, Colonel Sheppard," said the major.

"Escape? What kind of escape?" urged John.

"One of the animals from the genetics lab. This area is going to be locked down, we need to get out of here."

"After you," said John, grabbing his bag and following the disheveled major.

**~~00~~**

"Dammit, how did this happen?" shouted Colonel David Telford. He stood in the control room at Area 51, surrounded by employees military and civilian alike, as well as a few guests. "Where is the technician assigned to this shift?"

"He's dead, sir," said Erick, one of the technicians monitoring the security cameras. "Henry Walden and Jerry Douglas, who was on the shift just before him. They are both dead."

Telford had been assigned to Area 51 after Stargate Command lost contact with the _Destiny. _He resented the fact he had been left out of the loop when Eli Wallace made contact with the SGC and the _Elizabeth _was sent to rescue the survivors, but he took his job at Area 51 very seriously. Without the supervision of someone like Telford, the eggheads were likely to leave a cage open and let something dangerous out.

"Do you have any idea what it took to get that thing caged in the first place?" raged Telford.

A squad of soldiers walked in the door. The leader of the squad saluted Telford.

"All remaining sectors of the compound have been cleared, sir!" said the major. "Only the genetics research sector remains."

"Good," said Telford, seething. "Assemble a strike team. Tranq guns only."

"Permission to speak, sir?" said the major.

"Granted."

"Can't we just gas the place? That thing has already killed half a dozen men."

"We know from experience that sleeping gas doesn't work on it, and we have strict orders to keep it alive," said Telford. "You have your orders."

"Yes sir," said the major.

"I'm coming with you," said Sheppard, stepping out of the corner of the room. He looked at Telford, who met his gaze and nodded curtly.

"Go," said Telford.

He would get that thing back in its cage. And then there would be some changes made to the staff.

**~~00~~**

John leveled his tranq gun at the blast door. Around him stood a squadron of soldiers doing everything they could not to wet themselves.

"We're in position at the South entrance," he said into his radio. "Ready to move on your mark."

"Copy that," came Telford's voice. "Opening the blast doors now. Good luck, Colonel."

A hiss came from the door, and it slowly began to rise. John switched on the laser sight on his rifle, and watched the red dot crawl down the surface of the door as it retracted into the ceiling. The door slid past where the dot hovered, but John could still see it. The light of the laser made a dot on a space just past the doorway, on what appeared to be empty air.

"Oh, no," said John. "Open fire!"

The hallway lit up with weapons fire, and the creature howled from just beyond the door.

"The darts are bouncing right off him!" shouted one of the soldiers.

"Get out of the way!" shouted John, but it was too late. A large helbeast-shaped distortion in the air rushed forward into the hallway, trampling one soldier, and knocking two more against the side of the corridor.

"He's headed your way, Telford," said John into his radio.

John moved quietly down the hallway with what remained of his squadron. As he moved past a door he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and ducked into the room, aiming his gun at the figure in the room.

Todd turned around and held up his hands.

"What are you doing here, Todd?" hissed John. "You should have evacuated this sector!"

"I am attempting to engineer a solution to our current predicament," said Todd calmly.

John lowered his gun. "All clear, keep moving," he said into his radio. "What have you got?"

"The Trenalian Helbeast is an adaptive species, John Sheppard," said Todd as he turned back to his work bench and picked up a small device. "I, too, am an adaptive species."

"There is no experiment or specimen on this compound that escapes my notice, and I have studied them all," he continued. "The helbeast has adapted itself to avoid detection and resist your tranquilizers, but it has another weakness we have yet to expose."

"And that would be...?" prompted John.

"Female helbeasts give off a mating call that registers above the human range of hearing," explained Todd. "The male responds by coloring his exoskeleton as vibrantly as possible to attract the female. This device will mimic the mating call."

"So all you have to do is press that button, and our friend Sparky will come running, painted all the colors of the rainbow?" asked John.

"That is correct, Colonel," said Todd, pushing the button.

"Don't push it here, you Wraith-"

**~~00~~**

"It's heading toward the control room, Colonel Telford!" came a voice over the radio. Telford took his handgun from the holster on his waist and removed the safety.

"Sir, you said we are not authorized to use lethal force," said Erick the technician.

Telford sneered and raised the gun, aiming it at the doorway.

"I'm not gonna die just so some eggheads can study that thing," he snarled.

Someone screamed down the hallway. Telford heard a soft clicking coming down the hallway. The pace of the animal slowed as it came closer to the control room.

"Get ready to fire on my mark," said Telford. The men around him raised their weapons, staring intently at the empty space in the hallway just outside the door. Suddenly the air in the hallway began to shimmer and take on the shape of the Trenalian Helbeast, except instead of the usual dull grey of the animal's exoskeleton, he was brightly colored. Sparky hissed at the men in the control room and then darted down the hallway, back the way he had come.

"Fire!" shouted Telford, but it was too late. The animal was gone.

**~~00~~**

John stood just inside the door of Todd's lab, peering out into the hallway. Across the hall the rest of his squadron took up positions in the other doorways, waiting for the helbeast to return for the mating call. Todd stood inside the lab, holding the device he had used to call Sparky.

"It's coming!" shouted the major across the hall. John and his men opened fire as the blue, yellow, green, and orange beast skidded around the corner like an over-excited puppy and booked it for the lab. Once again, the tranquilizer darts bounced right off Sparky's hide.

"Switch to live rounds!" ordered John. He tossed the tranq gun aside and lifted the P90 from his belt. As he did, Sparky rushed past him into the room, knocking him to the floor. Struggling to get to his feet, John could see Sparky facing off with Todd. The helbeast was wagging his tail back and forth. As John got to his feet, Sparky crouched and leapt into a pounce.

"Watch out!" said John, stepping forward to shove Todd out of the way. As he did, he felt the barb of the animal's tail pierce through his chest. He was thrown backward through the air, landing painfully on his back. As his vision began to slip away, he saw the familiar blue flashes of a Goa'uld zat gun discharging, and heard the Trenalian Helbeast slump to the floor with a thud...

**~~00~~**

"You had to know that eventually one of those heroic suicide missions of yours was going to get you killed."

John was standing in a white room. He looked down to see that he was wearing an all white uniform. Someone else was standing in the room with him.

"You always were so selfless," said Elizabeth Weir. "That's one of the qualities I admired most in you."

"Elizabeth!" said John. "You're alive?"

Elizabeth looked at him and smirked. "Not quite, John."

He looked around but there was no one else there, and there appeared to be no doors or openings in the walls.

"Where.. what happened to Todd? That thing is loose in the compound..." stammered John.

Elizabeth put her hands on John's shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"You sacrificed yourself for him," she said. "And now you're here with me."

"Elizabeth..." he said, bringing his hand up to her face, and running his fingers through her hair. He closed his eyes and rested his forehead against hers.

"He's waking up."

"What?" asked John, opening his eyes, only to see that Elizabeth was gone.

"Elizabeth?" he asked, shielding his eyes from a bright light that was suddenly shining in his eyes.

"Welcome back, Colonel Sheppard."

John looked around at the medical bay. A doctor was standing over him, and Colonel Telford stood by the door.

"Where's Elizabeth?" John asked, still delirious.

"Elizabeth's not here," said Telford, walking over. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?" said John. "All I remember is getting stabbed by that... thing."

"Todd saved you," said Telford. "After he subdued the animal. Turns out he's invented a new version of the Goa'uld healing device using elements of Wraith technology. Without him, you'd be dead."

"You owe him your life," said the doctor.

"Is that thing..."? asked John.

"Sparky? Todd zatted him just in time. He's back in his cage, and this time he won't be getting out," said Telford.

"But he seemed so friendly..." muttered John as he drifted back to sleep.

**~~00~~**

Todd packed the last piece of the ansible device into a black case and closed the lid, locking it shut. John Sheppard was leaving today, and General Carter had requested that the device be sent back to Stargate Command with him. He had just picked up the case and turned around when Sheppard walked into his lab.

"John Sheppard," he said.

"Is that the ansible?" asked Sheppard.

"The prototype is ready for installation on the _Elizabeth,_" said Todd.

"Pack a bag then," said Sheppard. "You're going to install it yourself."

"You continue to surprise me, Sheppard," said Todd.

"You saved my life," said Sheppard.

"It was you who saved mine," responded Todd.

"The General is right," he said. "We could use you on the mission."

"Thank you, John Sheppard," said Todd.

Sheppard regarded Todd carefully. "We leave in two hours," he said, before walking out of the room.

**~~00~~**

Colonel Telford sat in his office. The files of the soldiers killed by the helbeast were splayed out in front of him on the desk. He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a tenth of whiskey. He took a glass from the drawer, set it on the desk, and unscrewed the cap of the bottle. He was about to pour himself a drink when he thought better of it and took a pull straight from the bottle. The phone rang.

Telford grabbed the handset and put it to his ear.

"Colonel David Telford?" said the voice on the other end.

"Yes," he said. "Who is this?"

"We know about the _Destiny, _Telford."

"Who is this?" he said, sitting upright.

"The Lucian Alliance has eyes everywhere."

A click came from the other end, followed by a dial tone. Telford looked at the phone, then set it back on the receiver. He took another drink from the bottle.

**~~00~~**

A motley assortment of the Stargate program's finest stood aboard the deck of the _Elizabeth. _Colonel John Sheppard, genius slacker Eli Wallace, Todd the Wraith, archeologist Dr. Bailey Evans, and the young ace pilot Major LaurenBurnette. They looked out across the bow to see the sun rising over the Earth.

"It's beautiful," said Bailey.

John touched a button on the control panel in front of him, and a hologram of General Carter appeared in front of them.

"Colonel Sheppard, the Genesis mission is a go," she said.

"Thank you General," said John.

"Good luck, and have fun," said Sam, before switching off.

John looked around at his crew. "You guys ready to see the other side of the universe?"

"I've been there," said Eli. "It's nice this time of year."

Todd, who was standing next to Eli, leaned over and whispered, "This ship is full of humans. Should our engines fail and I run out of Dr. Beckett's serum, I can always feed on you to sustain myself," said Todd.

Eli looked at Todd and took a step away from him. Todd chuckled to himself.

"Major Burnette," said John, walking over to the captain's chair. "Take us out."

"Yes, sir," said Burnette.

John sat down in the chair and listened to the sound of the gate drive powering up.

"This one's for you, Elizabeth," he said quietly, as the ship entered a wormhole bound for unknown reaches of space.

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron**

**********Also available at stargategenesis/dot/com**


	5. Messes and Messages

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 5**

"**Messes and Messages"**

Daniel Jackson walked slowly around the swirling mist that filled the center of the Holo Room. He watched silently as it coalesced into tiny spheres of red and yellow light that danced around one another in long winding tails. He ducked as one swung out over his head and launched a handful of spheres off from the main mass and into the abyss of blackness that hung like a curtain over the walls.

After lazily tracking the trajectory of these lost stars and scribbling something down on a notepad he turned back to behold a new shape emerging from the mist, though not the haloed spiral he had been expecting. This shape was darker, more defined, and dangerous. Its aura bucked even the suggestion of a halo created by the menagerie of twinkling lights, but Daniel's sleep deprived mind had conjured up a pair of stubby pink horns poking up through its midnight-black hair. This shape was the face of Vala Mal Doran.

"Whatchya doing?" it asked.

Daniel rubbed sleep from his eyes and tried to see through the perplexing refractions of starlight that were causing the illusion, but the sharp curves of his companion's horns were far too convincing. In any case he had been standing here in near darkness for hours and it was becoming difficult to make his eyes focus on any one thing.

"I'm plotting the evolution of the Pegasus Galaxy.," He said with a yawn, and pointed to a bright yellow ball hovering just over Vala's disembodied left ear. "I think this cluster of stars is about to become the anchor for a dwarf barred spiral."

"Excellent," said the head with mild interest. "How long do you suppose that'll take?"

"Oh I don't know," said Daniel tiredly. "Eight, maybe nine billion years? The tracking algorithms get a bit iffy after four and a half so I can't really be sure."

"Wonderful," Vala insisted happily. "What do you say we take a Jumper out and see how far along it's gotten?"

"Can't," said Daniel, yawning again. "I promised Dr. Warner a report on my findings."

"Daniel please," said Vala pouting. "I'm dying here. All anyone on this stupid island ever does is make reports on things and I'm sick of it. I want to go exploring. Make contact with strange alien races. Have, you know, adventures, and I certainly don't want to be cooped up in the ruins of a dead civilization any longer."

"Ruins?" asked Daniel, perking up a bit. "There are wonders of science, and art in Atlantis the likes of which most human beings can never hope to see. We owe it to them to document each and every one for the day when we might be so lucky as to leave something as spectacular as all this behind."

Vala had adopted the impassive half-lidded stare she wore when pretending to listen, and Daniel turned from her in frustration. He removed his glasses and blinked furiously to make them stop drooping. When he was satisfied that they would stay up without supervision he turned back, but he didn't put his glasses back on.

"You know if you gave it a chance-" he started, then stopped when he realized he was the only one in the room.

Exasperated and still very tired, he returned his attention to the task at hand. A wandering black hole had made off with several of the stars he had expected to settle near Pegasus' gravitational center and he had to lean in close to see which ones had been lost. For some reason the holographic projections floating around him had all gone slightly out of focus.

**~~00~~**

Vala stumbled up several steps of the Central Spire relying heavily on the handrails for support. Dr. Jackson's glasses were wreaking havoc on her eyesight. After a few concerned glances from passersby she took them off and stowed them in one of the many pockets lining her flight suit. Now taking the steps two at a time she quickly arrived at the infirmary and slinked quietly inside.

The beds were all empty but Carson Beckett was still there sitting at his desk in his lab coat and muttering what sounded like a patient profile to his laptop.

"Subject has exhibited marked improvement following the injection both in heart rate and blood pressure, however a noticeable increase in fluid intake may be at least partially– Oho! Hey now who is that?"

With his back to her, Vala had easily managed to sneak up on the unsuspecting doctor, and her breath on his ear startled him into.

"Oh, why'd you stop?" she asked disappointedly. "It sounded like you were just getting to the good part."

Carson let out a relieved sigh.

"It's only you then is it? Thank goodness for that. I thought you was Woolsey come to tell me off for wasting supplies."

"Are we wasting supplies?" asked Vala. "Oh I hope we're wasting some of that Athosian wine we got in last week. Take me somewhere romantic and I'd be happy to help. I bet I'd be good at it."

Carson chuckled and smiled genuinely at her.

"I'm afraid I'll have to take a rain check on that love. As you can see I have a patient here in need of my attention."

As he spoke he lifted something from the floor beside his desk, a wire cage covered over by a sheet which he removed. Vala looked down and saw a tiny white rabbit nestled in the folds of a sweater from Carson's alma mater.

"Poor little guy's been so dehydrated I've had to bottle feed him the last few days," said Carson.

Vala raised an eyebrow.

"A rabbit?" she asked.

"Yes," said Carson happily, and he put a finger through the bars of the cage to scratch its nose.

"And will you… eat him once he's gotten better?" she asked.

"Heavens no!" said Carson, pulling his finger back in shock. "This is some poor boy's pet. The Major brought him back from the settlement on the mainland."

Carson turned away from Vala to resume his gentle petting.

"Plus I've gotten rather attached to him me self," he said chuckling.

When he turned back Vala was gone.

"Now where do you suppose she's gotten too?" he asked, turning back to the rabbit, but it was gone as well.

**~~00~~**

Richard Woolsey sat in a bench on the balcony outside of Stargate Operations. The most recent supply shipment from Stargate Command had included a week old edition of _The Morning Herald,_ a newspaper that primarily covered local stories in and around his hometown. He was reading it, front to back, not because anything in it could possibly be relevant to him or anyone else on Atlantis, but because he was a man who thought newspapers ought to be read front to back and as frequently as possible.

Unfortunately the previous Thursday had been something of a light news day, and the section he was on had been filled out with community profiles and cereal bar recipes. He skimmed the instructions for making "Blasted Bran Bars" then brought the ends of the paper together to turn the page. As he did so he became aware that someone had sat down next to him and was quietly stroking a small white rabbit while staring pensively at the ocean.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

Vala gave him an unhappy look, "You could tell me when the Wraith will be getting here."

Woolsey looked surprised.

"Well we're always looking for them off world, but the hope is that they never show up here," he said. "If you're worried-"

Vala groaned, "You know all I ever heard about Atlantis was what a dangerous and exciting place it was. How you people were living on the frontier of human exploration, facing off against the Wraith in mortal combat, and freeing the galaxy from their oppression, but I've been here almost a month and they've only attacked once, and to make matters worse gate-travel is still off limits while Zalenka tries to figure out which gate in the bridge they managed to compromise. To put it simply Mr. Woolsey, I am achingly soul-crushingly bored."

The rabbit gave out a little squeak as Vala's grip on it grew uncomfortably tight.

"Sorry," she muttered and quickly loosened it again.

The slight furrow that never seemed to leave Woolsey's forehead deepened as he considered Vala's plight.

"Let's take this into my office," he said, and strode back inside.

Vala followed him but was stopped just inside the door by Major Miles Romanoff who had recognized the rabbit she was carrying. She held it out to him and he took it from her happily while smiling and making odd cooing noises. Then he coughed and seemed to remember where he was.

"Ahem… Thank you Miss Mal Doran," he said. "I'll be sure to see it returned to its proper owner."

Vala thanked him and asked that while he was at it he return a pair of glasses she had found to the Holo Room. She had some suspicion that he'd arrive to find Daniel Jackson crawling around on the floor looking for them.

Moments later she walked in on Commander Woolsey wiping the dust off a portable camera and detachable microphone set he had pulled from his office closet. He handed them to her and she took them without comment but was unsure of their meaning.

"It's been suggested…" he said, continuing to rummage through his closet. "That we begin sending periodic video messages through the Stargate to keep the family members of our team apprised of their health and well being," he said. "Apparently it was something Dr. Weir did at one point during her tenure here, and it ended up being quite the morale booster when the city needed it most. Ah there it is."

Woolsey extricated a long black tripod from a bag of golf clubs and turned it over in his hands.

"Unfortunately the videographer who handled the job back then has since been declared Missing in Action," he said. "Aiden Ford, he was a Lieutenant under Sheppard's command." He sighed. "The colonel would have my tongue out for saying so but he's also… well we think he's probably dead."

He handed her the tripod. As was her custom when people weren't talking about her, Vala had stopped listening and was examining the camera with interest. The word videographer had stuck in her mind.

"So you want me to be like, a reporter," she said. "Conducting interviews and uncovering the seedy underbelly of Atlantis."

"Um… No. Wait… What?" Woolsey babbled, but Vala was already out the door and walking too fast for him to catch up without causing a scene. She hadn't even bothered to take the fresh data drive he was still holding out to her.

**~~00~~**

On the periphery of his vision Rodney McKay was aware of Vala rushing by clutching something excitedly to her chest, but the bulk of his considerable intellect was focused on the simulation program in front of him while his fingers busily punched in parameters for an experiment. Onscreen a stream of text flowed by faster than it could conceivably be read, but for all the data, little of any use was forthcoming.

Rodney put his head in his hands and allowed himself a few moments to feel miserable.

"How's it coming?" asked Woolsey.

Rodney sighed and adjusted the monitor on his laptop.

"Not great," he said. "I can't be sure the cloak the Wraith had was Vanir tech, but it definitely wasn't Lantean."

"Oh?" said Woolsey.

"Yeah, the two systems work on entirely different principles," he said. "Our cloak just prevents the normal signatures we give off from being projected out into space, so light, heat, radio waves, anything that could give us away just gets reflected back down on top of us. The device the Wraith had takes a much more active approach. It fractures and disperses those signals over about 100,000 miles of space so by the time we pick them up they just look like a sort of mild spike in background radiation."

"Enough that we could pick it up?"'

"Sure. In fact we did we just didn't recognize what it was. The computer probably assumed it was a solar flare and next time it could be. I was up all night trying to find a way to spot the difference because if I set the alarms to sound every time a gust of solar wind hits the planet none of us are going to get any sleep for the foreseeable future."

"And what did you come up with?"

"Exactly nothing," said McKay resignedly. "And even if I had found something it's not like it would have done us any good. Knowing that there's a cloaked ship somewhere within 100,000 miles isn't exactly the same as knowing where it is."

With uncharacteristic familiarity Woolsey patted Rodney consolingly on the shoulder.

"One problem at a time Dr. Mckay."

**~~00~~**

The camera was complicated enough that Vala could not immediately determine what all of its buttons were for. The power button at least, a large red plunger where she felt her thumb should naturally rest, was obvious. She squeezed it down then slid a fingernail into a crease just beside it and swung open a small viewing screen that, for the moment, showed nothing but the inside of the camera's lens cap. Unaware of the need to remove said lens cap, Vala continued pressing buttons until she found a green one that momentarily filled the screen with fuzzy white light.

As she watched it the light faded and a squatting figure in gray fatigues and black armored vest appeared onscreen. A black bandana was pulled down to his eyebrows but it was clear that he had suffered some kind of wound to his left eye which was similarly black and slightly sunken looking. Slung across his back Vala could see the distinctive stubby nose of a P90 sub-machine gun, and holstered to his hip was a Colt M1911A1 pistol. She noted that both weapons were traditionally used by SG teams, marine combat units in particular.

The figure wiped his nose on his sleeve and tried to look stern look then laughed unsettlingly and said, "Surprise! I bet you never expected to see me again huh? Dang… I'll tell ya it wasn't easy getting out of that hive with all my pieces still attached, but uh… Well I made it didn't I?" The figure gave the camera a manic smile before turning serious again. "Listen, I guess I don't actually know who I'm talking to. I hope it's Sheppard, but I guess it's possible he didn't make it… Anyway if that's the case then this message is for whoever's still on Atlantis."

The figure stood up and the angle of the image changed. Behind him Vala could now see miles of waving sand dunes stretching out to the horizon. Sitting atop one of them was a Stargate, and a little further back a Wraith Cruiser lay against another at a steep angle. It didn't look damaged, and Vala guessed that it had simply been inexpertly parked.

"Right now I'm on P3X-3478, but don't get too excited because by the time anyone hears this message I'll be long gone." The figure gestures to the cruiser behind him. "I just need to grab a few things from Atlantis before I go, and I'm dropping something off too…"

**~~00~~**

Vala sprinted the last few meters of the South-East Corridor without acknowledging the refugees and bleary eyed crew members who had popped their heads out as she rushed passed. Finally she had somewhere to be, something to do, something to find.

As she neared the end of the line the double doors leading to the South-East Pier began to part automatically, but they were too slow for Vala who had to turn sideways to squeeze through. On the other side she stumbled and her pace slowed to a crawl. She eyed the weapons platform ahead of her wearily. In her mind's eye she saw its aperture slamming open and hundreds of angry drones screaming out of it. In battle, the vicious intensity with which they sought out their targets for destruction might lead one to believe they were living things with a mind all their own. Vala wondered if she was supposed to be here. Weapons platforms were strictly off-limits to civilians, but the door had opened for her so she must have clearance. She hoped the drones knew that.

On the short stretch of metal before her the elements had deposited a fine layer of silt and sand. Vala knelt down and gathered up a small handful before throwing it out ahead of her to drift back down in a hazy cloud. Most of it did not reach the ground. Most of it reached a point about two meters above the ground and disappeared. Vala reached out a hand toward the nothingness that had swallowed it.

It was cold, like metal. Several degrees colder than the nothing that surrounded it, Vala shivered. She felt rather than saw the granules of dust shifting and sliding over the solid object beneath them. She ran her hand back along the invisible object following the gentle curves and dips of its veined exterior until she found a shallow crevasse just deep enough to grip with the tips of her fingers. She tugged at it and suddenly a very opaque canopy of an equally opaque Wraith Dart dissolved to reveal a cockpit clearly modified for a human pilot.

**~~00~~**

In the control room Rodney was becoming increasingly frustrated. He had hoped that tapping into the discriminatory power of the city's long range sensors would be the key to nullifying the Wraith cloaking device, but all it had done was create dozens of 100,000 mile wide ghosts all of which had so far turned out to be in the radiation shadows of nebulas or pulsars. He was starting to wonder if any of them were really cloaked Wraith ships, when an alarm connected to the city's internal sensors began to sound. After a moment of confusion, Rodney pulled up a video feed of the South-East weapons platform and saw the Wraith Dart parked just a few meters in front of it. He felt himself pale slightly as he wondered what kind of nuclear armament a single dart might be capable of carrying.

"Dr. McKay what's happening?" asked Woolsey over the noise of the alarm. "Has your program detected a cloaked ship?"

"No," he replied. "The city sensors must have picked it up right after it de-cloaked. It looks like a dart's managed to find its way onto the South-East Pier."

"Shields up," he said then picked up a headset and spoke hurriedly into it, "Who's in the Chair Room?"

"That would be me," came the voice of Major Romanoff.

"I want drones on standby. Jumper teams two, three, and five prepare to provide aerial support. Teyla, I want nonessential personnel in their rooms and a team to intercept any Wraith that may be trying to access the city via the South-East Pier."

He turned back to Rodney while the gears of war began to turn and Atlantis prepared to defend itself. Over his shoulder he watched as the dart rose up off the ground and prepared to fly.

**~~00~~**

Vala Mal Doran had once made a living of flying space ships that didn't belong to her and one of the real thrills of life on the run had been outwitting and out maneuvering pursuers. Now that experience was serving her well as she careened around the spires of Atlantis at speed with no less than three drones tailing her at all times.

She could outrun them she knew, but the city's shields were forcing her to double back and gave them all the time they needed to close the distance. Below her the West Pier was coming to an abrupt end and she dipped into a curving dive to bring the dart back around. The drones altered trajectory without slowing and shaved a hundred meters off her lead. Vala resisted the urge to panic. They were at least marginally controlled by whoever was sitting in the Chair Room, so they would be cautious about blasting away at her over the inhabited zones. If she could get back to the South-East Pier she could drop in low and they might back off long enough for her to escape.

Unfortunately marines were already pouring out of the towers and peppering her with small arms fire while machine guns were mounted and loaded. She could feel them trying to route her toward the relatively empty Northern edge of the city and tried to resist, but damage warnings were flying across her screen and she had no choice but to veer off. The Drones drew to within fifty meters.

Vala searched in vain for an escape route. The city's shimmering blue shields may as well have been made of concrete, and unlike the F-302s she had flown on Earth this dart had no ejection system. The pilot, it seemed, was expected to go down with the ship, preferably taking some other ship along for the ride.

The water at the end of the North Pier was coming up fast. She could swing sharply around the last tower and minimize the distance the drones would gain on her, but that would send her careening back into a maelstrom with hostiles surrounding her on all sides. She scanned the command menu for an alternative. There was one thing she hadn't tried yet.

She hit the air brake and spun the dart around a full one hundred and eighty degrees. The drones spiraled around each other and aimed to fly directly up her nose. She jammed the throttle down hard to close the distance at speed. Just before impact she swung the dart into a climb, and when the drones did the same she set the ship's culling beam for as wide a pass as it could manage and swallowed them whole.

On the balcony of the Control Room Ronon Dex took careful aim at the dart's exposed underbelly and let go with a single burst from his particle magnum that burned a baseball sized hole in its skin at 150 meters. The shot sent power surges racing through the ship's wiring. A volley of energy weapons fire racked the sky and the dart plunged back around toward the water as its navigation and weapons systems responded to commands the ship's pilot had not sent. Vala was thrown sideways by the sudden jerking motion and her elbow slammed forward a heretofore unseen lever. The dart vanished.

**~~00~~**

Reports of clean sweeps were coming in through Woolsey's ear piece, but it wasn't making him feel any less anxious. There was at least one dart now unaccounted for and presumably one Wraith as well.

"I know I hit it," said Ronon. "Maybe it flew off."

"No it's still here," said Rodney. "I seriously doubt it made it passed the shields, and I'm still picking up elevated radiation levels around the city."

"We can't fight them blind," said Woolsey. "There has to be a way for us to know where they are."

Rodney rolled his eyes, "maybe if we asked nicely they'd show us."

As if on cue the elusive dart materialized a few meters above the balcony of the central spire with its nose aimed directly at Rodney's head. The canopy of the cockpit dematerialized and Vala Mal Doran stood up before quickly ducking back down to avoid the stream of red plasma unleashed by Ronon before he saw who it was.

"You know I'm starting to get the feeling that you people enjoy shooting at me," said Vala getting back up.

The others stared at her incredulous. Woolsey spoke first.

"Please tell me, that you captured that dart after it went down somewhere in the city, and that some of the finest minds I've had the privilege of working with haven't spent the last ten minutes firing live rounds at one of their own."

Vala gave an awkward shrug and had to steady herself on the control panel as the dart shifted beneath her. Her fingers graced the screen as she did, and a beam shot out from underneath her depositing three deactivated drones on the balcony.

Woolsey hung his head and walked back inside, trailed by the rest of his solemn team.

"Um," said Vala uncertainly. "Can someone help me down from here?"

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**

**********Also available at stargategenesis/dot/com**


	6. The Old Gang

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode Six**

"**The Old Gang"**

**/Author's Note: From now on, we will be posting episodes here and on our website at the same time, instead of on a delay. Thank you to everyone who has been reading. We've been having a blast writing this series and have no plans to stop any time soon. Please follow and review! -Caleb/**

Colonel Cameron Mitchell stood in an empty gate room. He looked up at the ancient wormhole device and sighed. It had been six years since he was assigned to lead SG-1, and so much had changed in that time. After defeating the Ori, Colonel Carter became General Carter and took over Stargate Command after General Landry retired. Teal'c had returned to Dakara to guide the political process as the Jaffa people became the predominant power in the galaxy. Only recently Dr. Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran left Earth to join the Atlantis expedition, a post Daniel had been after ever since the expedition was launched.

That left Cameron without a team. He had been offered jobs in the Pentagon, on Atlantis, and even aboard the _Elizabeth _for the Genesis mission, but he refused them all. Stargate Command was where he belonged, leading SG-1. He only wished SG-1 was still around to lead.

Lt. Walter Harriman walked into the gate room and stood beside Cameron.

"Looks like the old gang isn't coming back this time, Colonel," said Harriman.

"Sure looks that way," replied Cameron.

"What will you do?" asked Harriman, turning to look at Cameron.

"I'll find a team, and then we'll do what SG-1 has always done," said Cameron. "Step through the stargate and stop the bad guys."

**~~00~~**

The lawn of the small two-bedroom house was unkempt and full of weeds. An old lawn chair sat on the porch, holding up the sleeping body of Ronald Greer. He wore shorts and a faded Hawaiian shirt with patterns of blue and green lizards printed on it. His right arm was in a sling. The whole appendage hung uselessly from his shoulder, a sharp reminder of his time in the stasis pod on board the _Destiny, _helpless to save anyone. The front door of the house was ajar, and a small pile of unrolled newspapers lay near the welcome mat.

A black SUV pulled up in front of the house. The passenger door opened to reveal Cameron, dressed in a crisp Air Force uniform. As he walked up the path toward the porch, Greer stirred and sat up, recognizing the colonel.

"Colonel Mitchell," he said groggily.

"Major Greer," replied Cameron.

"What brings you to my neck of the woods, colonel?" asked Greer.

"Some neck of the woods," said Cameron. "I heard the SGC set you up. Can't you afford a better place than this craphole?"

Greer raised an eyebrow, and then motioned toward a second camp chair on the porch.

"Please, have a seat," he said.

Cameron sat in the chair, and clasped his hands together.

"I'm going to get straight to the point, Major," he said. "I'm putting together a new SG team, and I want you on it."

Greer snorted. "I'm done with that shit, Mitchell. I've seen enough space to last ten lifetimes."

Cameron considered the man next to him carefully. He opened up his mouth to speak, but was interrupted before he could make a sound.

"I told you, I'm done," said Greer.

"You know, we could fix that for you," said Cameron, pointing to Greer's bad arm. "Medical technology has come a long way since you left Earth."

"Get off my porch," snarled Greer.

**~~00~~**

Samantha Carter sat behind her desk at Stargate Command. She had long since replaced General Landry's old desk chair with a new ergonomic one. It didn't set quite the same tone in the office, but then again Carter wasn't quite the same general. She adjusted a lever on her chair and resumed reading the backlog of emails that had piled up during her vacation the previous month. The most important emails were forwarded to her private account while she was on leave, so most of what was left was bureaucratic nonsense and mundane reports. Still, she carefully read each one and sorted them into the appropriate folders.

A new message appeared at the top of the queue labeled "thinking of you." She opened it to see a photo of her husband, Whitney, hanging from a precarious-looking rock overhang with a goofy smile on his face. The two of them had spent a month hiking and climbing through the Arizona desert, and when launch preparations for the _Elizabeth _had called Sam back to the SGC, Whitney had stayed in Arizona, not yet willing to leave the beautiful desert vistas they had discovered together.

When Sam was put in charge of the SGC her time off-world dropped to almost nothing, and it gave her more time to pursue Earthside hobbies she had neglected for years. She met Whitney at an indoor climbing facility, and they hit it off immediately. He was a small-time travel writer who spent most of his time backpacking across the remaining places on Earth untouched by human progress. She was a high-ranking Air Force officer who until recently spent most of her time travelling across the Milky Way Galaxy and meeting new civilizations. They were perfect for eachother.

Since then, Whitney had been granted limited clearance within the Stargate program, but he never expressed any desire to step through the gate. One of the things Sam loved most about him was that he lived in the moment and saw beauty in everything. "Why travel to other planets," he would always say, "when there are so many beautiful places right here on good old Earth we haven't seen yet?"

Sam chuckled to herself, making a mental note to remind Whitney not to send emails to her work address. She heard a knock at the door and looked up from her computer.

"Come in," she called.

Major Jessica Warren opened the door and stepped into the office. She was sharply dressed in a well-decorated Air Force uniform. Jessica held herself well, shoulders back and head high. Sam stood up to greet the young woman, who stood at attention and saluted her.

"At ease, Major Warren," said Sam, smiling. "Have a seat."

"Thank you General Carter," said Jessica, taking one of the cushioned seats in front of Sam's desk.

"Please, call me Sam."

Jessica visibly relaxed. "Thank you."

Sam opened a folder on her desk and looked up at Jessica.

"I've been doing some reading on you, Major," she said. "Two tours in Iraq, over a hundred hours logged in enemy airspace, multiple commendations for exemplary service. And you've got doctorate degrees in Astrophysics and Mechanical Engineering. You know, you remind me of someone."

"Who is that, General - I mean, Sam?" asked Jessica.

"Me," said Sam, smirking.

**~~00~~**

Dr. Lisa Park awoke, gasping for air. She reached out with her hands only to discover cold glass blocking her way. Panicked, she felt around the glass but found no opening. She began to bang on the stasis pod door. As she slammed her fists against the glass, she remembered she had eyes, and opened them. Milky white irises provided no vision. Lisa stopped banging and remembered that she also had a voice. Her plea for help came from her mouth as little more than a whisper.

"Why didn't you save us? Why did you let us all die?"

**~~00~~**

Greer awoke damp with sweat, his sheets a jumbled mess. He sat up and took a deep breath. It was 2 a.m. He stood up and walked groggily to the kitchen. Opening the cabinet with his good arm, he grabbed a cup and turned the tap on in the sink. In the glass door of the open cabinet he saw the reflection of a man dressed in all black standing a few feet behind him.

Suddenly alert, Greer stepped to the side and turned to his assailant as a dart hissed past him and lodged itself in the wall above the sink. Moving quickly, he closed the space between himself and the man, smashing the glass cup in his hand against the attacker's face. Greer took a step back and scanned the room around him. He saw the other men as another dart hit him in the shoulder. He collapsed before he could make the hallway.

**~~00~~**

Cameron walked into the control room and stood next to Sam as alarms blared, signalling an incoming wormhole.

"Howdy, Sam," said Cameron.

"Cam," she said, turning to him. "Any luck with Major Greer?"

"No dice," he said.

"Well, there's someone else I'd like you to meet," said Sam.

"Receiving IDC," reported Harriman. "It's Teal'c."

"That's odd," said Sam. "We're not expecting to hear from him for another week. Open the iris."

Down in the gate room, the iris opened. A moment later, Jaffa leader and former SG-1 member Teal'c of Chulak stepped through the open wormhole.

**~~00~~**

Teal'c, Sam, Cameron, and Jessica stood at the head of the conference table above the gateroom. Teal'c turned to Jessica.

"I believe I have not had the pleasure," he said.

"Major Jessica Warren," she said, extending a hand.

Teal'c smiled and shook her hand.

"Come to think of it, I haven't seen you around here either," said Cameron.

"Colonel Mitchell, this is who I was telling you about," said Sam. "I'm recommending Major Warren for SG-1."

"Glad to meet you, Major," said Cameron. "Anyone Sam recommends is a winner in my book."

"Thank you, Colonel," said Jessica.

"I apologize for the interruption, but the matter that brought me here is one of great urgency," said Teal'c.

"Yes, of course," said Sam. "Please, let's all have a seat."

Sitting in a chair near the head of the table, Teal'c began to explain.

"On Dakara we are in the midst of a negotiation between the Free Jaffa Nation and the Tok'ra," he began. "With the growing presence of the Lucian Alliance in our galaxy, our two peoples have found it necessary to coordinate our military forces."

"Well that sounds great," said Cameron. "Everyone's gettin' along. What's the problem?"

"The problem, Cameron Mitchell," said Teal'c. "Is that not everyone is … gettin' along."

"The Jaffa and the Tok'ra have a bit of a troubled history," said Cameron to Jessica, who was sitting next to him. "What with the Jaffa having been the foot soldiers of the Goa'uld for hundreds of years of galaxy-wide oppression."

"I am aware, Colonel," said Jessica curtly. "I have read the mission reports."

"The grudges of old wars are not easily forgotten," said Teal'c. "This morning a Jaffa high councilor was found dead in his quarters, and a Tok'ra woman is suspect. A group of Jaffa are holding her prisoner even now."

"And that can't be making things any easier for the negotiations," said Sam.

"Indeed," confirmed Teal'c. "The Tok'ra delegation is threatening to leave Dakara and withdraw their support if the prisoner is not released."

"Is she guilty?" asked Jessica.

Teal'c cocked his head and considered the major. "I would not know, Jessica Warren."

"What can we do to help, Teal'c?" asked Sam.

"The Jaffa and the Tokra have long considered the Tau'ri to be a trustworthy ally," said Teal'c. "I believe SG-1 would be accepted as impartial judges to peacefully resolve the situation."

"Sounds great, Teal'c, but SG-1 ain't exactly a team at the moment," said Cameron. "Ever since Daniel and Vala left, we're short a few members."

"SG-1 is in a transition period," said Sam. "Major Warren, Cameron, and I will accompany you to Dakara to help in any way we can."

Teal'c nodded and smiled. "Thank you, Samantha Carter."

"You want me to come?" asked Jessica.

"Gotta start somewhere, kid," said Cameron.

**~~00~~**

Ronald Greer awoke to find himself tied to a metal chair. He blinked at the bright light shining on his face.

"What the hell…" he groaned.

"Welcome back, Major Greer," came a low voice.

"What is this?" asked Greer, straining his eyes to see the man standing behind the light.

"We represent the interests of the Lucian Alliance, Major," said the voice.

"You gonna try to brainwash me?" said Greer.

Someone outside Greer's range of vision picked up two knives and ran the sharp edges against each other. The sound echoed ominously.

"Not quite," said the voice.

**~~00~~**

Cameron, Jessica, Sam, and Teal'c stepped through the gate and into the gateroom on Dakara. Jessica walked slowly, wide-eyed at the brand new world that had appeared before her. She had read the reports, but to actually step through the stargate was something else entirely.

"Never stops being incredible," said Sam, smiling. "C'mon, we've got work to do."

Teal'c led the way, guiding them through ancient hallways. Jaffa men and women stood silently to watch them pass. Some of the Jaffa still had the forehead tattoos of their former Goa'uld masters, while others had attempted to burn them off. A few of the men SG-1 passed had gold markings on their foreheads like Teal'c's; the gold mark, Jessica knew, was the mark of a first prime, the head Jaffa slave among a Goa'uld system lord's ranks.

"Where are the Tok'ra?" asked Jessica, to no one in particular.

"The Tok'ra High Council has convened in a private meeting chamber along with the Jaffa High Council," replied Teal'c. "We must act quickly before they make any … rash decisions."

"The Tok'ra can get a bit testy," said Cameron, who was walking next to Jessica. "If I had an alien in my head 24/7, I think I'd have a temper problem too."

"Well, it's not exactly like that," said Sam. "The Tok'ra symbiote and the human host have a symbiotic relationship. No Tok'ra ever blends with an unwilling host, and the two share everything, including an extended life. A human host blended with a Tok'ra symbiote can live for over 200 years. My dad was blended to the Tok'ra Selmak for years before he died."

"I'm so sorry, Sam," said Jessica.

"No, no, it's okay," said Sam, smiling. "If it hadn't been for Selmak, dad would have died of cancer years before he did. Selmak gave me more time with him, and the two of them helped SG-1 out of more tight spots that I can count."

"We are here," interrupted Teal'c. They had arrived in front of a heavy door, guarded by two armed Tok'ra.

**~~00~~**

Danesh was restless. She paced back and forth in the cell, anger building to a boiling point. Lynn reached out to her, soothing her troubled mind in a way that no other host had ever been able to do.

_The Jaffa are a reasonable people. They will not sentence us without a fair hearing, _whispered Lynn.

"If they are so fair, why have they locked me up in this cage?" asked Danesh.

_Have we not made unfair accusations against the Jaffa? _replied Lynn.

"I am no murderer!" cried Danesh.

_I know, Danesh. More than most. Please, breathe, _cooed Lynn.

**~~00~~**

Jessica followed Cameron, Sam, and Teal'c into the meeting chamber, which had a high ceiling and was furnished with a long table. The seats of the table were populated by Tok'ra and Jaffa in traditional garb. As they entered, the Tok'ra at the head of the table stood to greet them.

"Teal'c," he said, extending a hand.

"Hel'shen," said Teal'c grasping the man's forearm in greeting, as is the custom among the Jaffa.

"Please, be seated," said Hel'shen, indicating four empty seats near the head of the table.

"Where is Rak'nor?" asked Teal'c, referring to the current leader of the Jaffa High Council.

As soon as he said it, the doors of the meeting chamber opened, and Rak'nor walked in, flanked by two Jaffa warriors.

"Why are you wasting your time with this foolishness, Teal'c?" he bellowed. "One of their people has killed one of ours! The Free Jaffa Nation is one less because of them!"

Teal'c stepped forward and regarded Rak'nor carefully.

"I have brought SG-1 here to help determine the truth behind the murder," he said calmly.

"The Tok'ra Danesh was found at the scene of the murder with no explanation!" shouted Rak'nor.

"Your accusation against her is based on prejudice and malice!" retorted Hel'shen. "There is no evidence-"

"Enough!" demanded Teal'c, standing between them. "SG-1 will serve as an impartial judge. Until they have completed an investigation, I expect our two peoples to remain civilized."

Rak'nor nodded and stormed out of the room, followed by his entourage. Hel'shen bowed slightly, and looked at Sam.

"If Teal'c trusts your judgement, then so do I," he said.

"Thank you Hel'shen," she said. "Now if it's not too much trouble, we'll need to see the scene of the crime."

**~~00~~**

Kefaeyl of Goranak slumped in his chair, dry blood crusted around the stump where his head had once been. His hands hung limply by his side, and his head sat on the floor some four feet away from the chair. The symbol of the system lord Ba'al was tattooed on his forehead.

"His name was Kefaeyl," said Teal'c. "He was a member of the high council, and a strong proponent of Jaffa and Tok'ra cooperation."

"So I'm guessing whoever killed him was trying to derail the negotiations," said Sam.

"I have come to a similar conclusion," affirmed Teal'c.

"So where does the Tok'ra woman your people are holding come into this?" asked Jessica.

"Danesh was witnessed fleeing from the scene," said Teal'c. "She claims she was running for help, after discovering the body."

"And you don't believe her?" asked Cameron.

"It is not a matter of what I believe, Cameron Mitchell," said Teal'c. "There is currently no other suspect. The High Council will not release her unless the true murderer is found."

"So then you don't think it was her," said Sam, bending to inspect Kefaeyl's neck.

"I have known Danesh for some time," replied Teal'c. "Though she is often impatient, she has always been a friend to the Free Jaffa Nation."

"Is there anyone else who might want the negotiations between the Jaffa and To'kra to go south?" asked Cameron.

"There are many who oppose our partnership," said Teal'c.

"What about someone who isn't Jaffa or Tok'ra?" asked Jessica.

"Like who?" asked Cameron.

"Who stands the most to lose from military cooperation between the Jaffa and Tok'ra?" said Jessica.

"The Lucian Alliance," affirmed Sam.

**~~00~~**

Jessica and Cameron found themselves standing in front of Danesh's holding cell. Two Jaffa guards stood nearby, watching them.

"Hello, Danesh," said Cameron. "My name is Colonel Cameron Mitchell of SG-1, and this is Major Jessica Warren."

"Hello, Colonel," replied Danesh. "Thank you for your assistance."

"We're doing what we can," said Cameron.

"Can you tell us what you saw when you found Kefaeyl's body?" asked Jessica.

Danesh regarded her with a cold stare. A private war raged in her mind before she answered.

"Kefaeyl was a major defender of the Tok'ra-Jaffa military alliance," she said. "I went to his room last night to discuss the day's negotiations."

"So you're a member of the Tok'ra High Council?" asked Jessica.

"I am a scientific advisor to the council," said Danesh.

"What did you find when you got to his room?" asked Cameron.

"The same thing you did, Colonel," said Danesh. "Only when I arrived the blood was still fresh."

"Did you see anything else?" asked Jessica. "Any_one _else?"

Danesh closed her eyes. When she opened them and began to speak, it was the softer voice of her human host.

"My name is Lynn," she said. "And we did see something else."

**~~00~~**

Sam and Teal'c walked into Rak'nor's private quarters. The High Councilor was sitting in a chair, hands together in a steeple, staring into space.

"Rak'nor," said Teal'c.

Rak'nor looked up and nodded thoughtfully.

"I just need to ask a few questions," said Sam.

"There is nothing to know," said Rak'nor. "The Tok'ra have always hated the Jaffa. Kefaeyl wanted peace between our people, so they killed him."

Sam cocked her head doubtfully, and then continued.

"Is it possible that a third party was involved?" she asked. "Could a cloaked assassin have gotten into the room?"

"Impossible," said Rak'nor. "Though we dress in the traditional way of our people, we are not so backwards as you may believe. This entire building is protected by an anti-cloaking device. Were there a hidden assailant in our midst, we would have been alerted."

"He is correct," said Teal'c. "There is no cloaking technology I am aware of that is capable of fooling the device Rak'nor speaks of."

"What about a double agent?" asked Sam. "Could there be a Lucian Alliance agent operating under the guise of a Tok'ra or Jaffa?"

A fire lit in Rak'nor's eyes. "If you are suggesting that one of my Jaffa warriors-"

"Well I'm sure the men under your command are loyal to the Jaffa cause, but there are thousands of Jaffa here on Dakara," said Sam. "Isn't it possible that one of them isn't who they say they are?"

**~~00~~**

"As we made our way to Kefaeyl's quarters, I saw a Jaffa warrior with the symbol of Lord Utu on his forehead," said Lynn.

"Sure," said Cameron. "The Jaffa have all sorts of Goa'uld symbols around here. What's that got to do with anything?"

"Lord Utu was a minor system lord," explained Lynn. "At the end of his reign he controlled only one planet. Danesh was among the Tok'ra force that killed Utu and liberated the Jaffa under his charge."

"They did not attack you?" asked Jessica.

"The Jaffa slaves of Lord Utu had long been doubtful of his status as a god," said Lynn. "When Utu was slain, his remaining Jaffa burned his marks from their foreheads. I watched it myself. Utu was a cruel and unforgiving Goa'uld; none of his former slaves wished to bear his mark."

"So this Jaffa you saw, you think he was an impostor?" asked Jessica.

Lynn's eyes glowed as Danesh resumed control of her voice.

"It is possible, though as I have told Lynn, we did not witness _every _Jaffa burn off his mark," said Danesh. "There could be some who did not."

"Regardless, we have to follow this up," said Cameron. He looked at Jessica. "Let's go find Sam and Teal'c."

**~~00~~**

An hour later, a Jaffa warrior with the mark of Lord Utu on his forehead was dragged before the joint Jaffa and Tok'ra High Councils. The man snarled at the assembly.

"Is this the man who killed Kefaeyl?" asked Hel'shen.

"There's only one way to find out," said Cameron. He spit on his thumb, walked up to the captive, and rubbed his thumb across the man's forehead. Ink smeared across the impostor's forehead, distorting the symbol.

"Weren't willing to go all the way and get it tattooed on, eh?" asked Cameron. "I don't blame you. Never know where those needles have been."

"Who are you?" barked Rak'nor.

The man laughed and looked up at the Jaffa High Councillor.

"This galaxy belongs to the Lucian Alliance," he said. "You're all going to die."

"Melodramatic much?" asked Cameron.

"Take him away!" ordered Rak'nor. He looked over at Hel'shen, who met his gaze. "And release the Tok'ra woman."

**~~00~~**

Sam, Cameron, Jessica, and Teal'c stood in the gateroom. The gate was bright with the shimmering blue pool of the event horizon.

"Thank you for your assistance in this matter," said Teal'c.

"So you won't consider joining the team again?" asked Cameron hopefully.

Teal'c smiled. "I am afraid I cannot, Cameron Mitchell," he said. "I must remain here on Dakara."

"Well, it was worth a shot," said Cameron.

"It was very nice to meet you, Teal'c," said Jessica.

"And you, Jessica Warren," said Teal'c warmly.

"Colonel Mitchell!" came a voice from down the hall.

Cameron looked to see Danesh running toward them. She arrived in front of the group and stopped to catch her breath.

"Danesh," said Sam, smiling. "What can we do for you?"

"I want to join SG-1," said Danesh.

"You what?" asked Cameron.

"I am a skilled engineer," said Danesh. "I speak two dozen languages common to the Milky Way Galaxy, and I am familiar with Goa'uld and Tokra technologies and customs."

Danesh took a deep breath and allowed Lynn to take over.

"Our duties in the negotiations between the Tok'ra and the Jaffa are now complete," Lynn said. "Danesh believes she can be an asset to your team, and I must admit, I have always admired the exploits of SG-1, not to mention the fact that we now owe you our lives."

Cameron and Sam looked at her in stunned silence.

"I do believe Danesh would be an excellent addition to SG-1," said Teal'c.

"You trust her?" asked Cameron.

Teal'c smiled and nodded. "I do."

"Good enough for me," said Cameron. "You ready to go?"

"Well, we'll have to report this to the Tok'ra High Council and bring Danesh back to the medical ward at the SGC for a full evaluation," said Sam.

"Yeah, yeah," said Cameron. "Welcome to the team, Danesh."

Danesh's eyes flashed, indicating her return.

"Thank you, colonel."

**~~00~~**

"You can torture me all you want," said Greer through gritted teeth. Blood dripped from his lip, and his good wrist burned where he had been struggling to free it.

"Oh, we will," said the voice. "You haven't had enough yet?"

"Not even close," said Greer.

Pain radiated from his face as the nameless man smashed something hard and metal against his jaw. He screamed, blood once again filling his mouth.

"I'll ask you again: what is the address of the stargate on board the _Elizabeth?"_

Greer spat a mouthful of saliva and blood. "I don't know."

More pain.

"You failed, Colonel Greer," said the voice. "The men and women aboard the _Destiny, _they died. Lisa Park, she died. Because of _you."_

Greer struggled to lift his head. "How could you know that?"

"You forget, colonel. The Lucian Alliance has eyes everywhere."

Greer felt hard metal across his jaw once again before he slipped into unconsciousness.

**~~00~~**

As Sam, Cameron, Jessica, and Danesh walked through the gate into the gateroom at the SGC, they were greeted by Major Danzer, the leader of SG-28.

"Colonel Mitchell, sir," said Danzer.

"Major," Cameron responded. "What is it?"

"You asked us to check on Major Greer, sir," reported Danzer. "He's gone missing, and it doesn't look like he left voluntarily."

Cameron turned to Sam. "Can we track him?"

"Major Greer was implanted with a nanite tracker," she said. "It is standard procedure for discharged soldiers with high-level clearance. We can find him."

**~~00~~**

Ice cold water brought Ronald Greer back to consciousness. He snapped awake to find himself still strapped to the same chair, still being interrogated by the same nameless man.

"Ready to tell us the gate address, Major?" said the man.

"Go to hell," hissed Greer through clenched teeth.

"Is that what you told your friends on the _Destiny?" _laughed the man.

Greer reeled as he was hit across the face again. The man said something else but he couldn't hear it. He couldn't feel anything. In the corner of the room he saw Dr. Lisa Park wearing her blindfold and smiling at him. She walked over to his chair, leaned down so her lips brushed his ear, and whispered something to him.

**~~00~~**

Lisa lay on the cold floor of the _Destiny_, straining to hear far-off footsteps. She coughed as toxic air filled her lungs. No one was coming to rescue her, she realized.

A bright light surrounded her, and she felt herself being lifted up away from her own body. Her sight had returned, and she marveled at the revelation before noticing that she had died. Lisa realized that she _was_ the bright light, and her lifeless body was nothing more than a shell she was now leaving behind.

She rose up through the _Destiny_ and saw that it was damaged beyond repair. As she watched, a solar flare ripped the great ship apart, sending mangled parts and bodies floating through space. Among the wreckage was a shuttle, fully intact and bracing itself against the flares with its shields. Inside were Eli Wallace and Ronald Greer.

"It's not your fault," Lisa whispered, though Ron couldn't hear her.

A woman was floating next to her, bathed in the same white light Lisa was, watching the burning of the _Destiny_.

"My name is Oma Desala," she said, smiling gently. "Everything is going to be all right."

Lisa felt peace wash over her as she looked down on the lone shuttle carrying the man she loved. Then she turned to Oma Desala and followed her on the path to ascension.

**~~00~~**

"It's not my fault," Greer said, lucidity returning. Lisa was gone.

"What did you say?" said his interrogator.

"Everything is going to be all right," said Greer.

"The hell are you-"

Somewhere behind the bright light that had been shining at Greer's face for an amount of time he had long since lost track of, a door burst open and more light flooded the room. Armed men rushed in and quickly subdued the Lucian Alliance agents.

"He's here," came Colonel Cameron Mitchell's voice. "We're bringing him home."

**~~00~~**

Greer sat on a hospital bed in the medical ward of the SGC. He flexed his arm, watching the fingers move at his command for the first time since before he'd gone into the stasis chamber on the _Destiny._

Sitting on the next bed over was Danesh, who was taking in the room as if she had never seen one before.

"Are you a member of Mitchell's new team?" he asked her.

"I am," she said, meeting his gaze.

"You're not one of those Goa'uld things, are you?" asked Greer, noticing her alien voice.

"Hardly, Major Greer," said Danesh. "I am To'kra."

"My name is Lynn," said the host, taking over. "Danesh and I are equal partners in all things, and we are allies to the Tau'ri."

Greer raised an eyebrow. "Alright then."

Cameron and Jessica walked in to the medical ward and stood before Greer and Danesh.

"How are you feeling, Major Greer?" asked Cameron.

"Good as new, Colonel," he replied. "I was wondering about something though."

"What's that?"

"I don't know the address of the _Elizabeth_'s stargate," said Greer. "In fact, I don't know much of anything the Lucian Alliance doesn't already seem to know. Why were they interrogating me?"

"I can answer that," said Jessica. "The Lucian Alliance has always been disorganized. Though they have a central leadership, there are factions within the Alliance, and no shortage of in-fighting."

Cameron looked at Jessica and cocked his head quizzically.

"I told you, I've read the mission reports," she said, shrugging.

"It is true that communication among the Lucian Alliance has always been their weak point," confirmed Danesh. "They gain their strength from sheer numbers and ferocity."

"So the men who interrogated me, they had bad information?" asked Greer.

"Yes," said Jessica. "That seems to be the most likely explanation."

"Major Greer, I'd like you to meet Major Warren," said Cameron. "And I believe you've already met Danesh."

"So this is your new team," said Greer. "An egghead and an alien."

"_You _are the alien," said Danesh.

"I was hoping," said Cameron, "that we might be able to add 'grumpy soldier' to that list."

Greer considered Cameron.

"Come on man," said Cameron. "If you don't join, I'll be the only guy. Help a brother out?"

"Only if you never say 'help a brother out' again," said Greer.

Cameron smiled. He looked around at his new team: Major Jessica Warren, the ace pilot and genius scientist; Danesh, the fiery Tok'ra scientist and linguist; and Major Ronald Greer, the tough-as-nails soldier and survivor of the _Destiny._

"Welcome to SG-1," he said.

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron**


	7. Debt and Revenge

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 7**

"**Debt and Revenge"**

In the vacuum above the atmosphere of Ankar, the latest of a half-dozen deserted planets to be annexed and colonized by the Travelers, a spacegate sat silent and unused. The Travelers were a spacefaring race who distrusted the stargates, and avoided them whenever possible. It was a rare thing therefore, to see its vortex froth and foam as Jumper 3 slid past the event horizon and into orbit over the planet. Aboard, Dr. Daniel Jackson stared out the window of the cockpit at the silhouette of a Lantean _Aurora_-class battleship coming up on the opposite side of the planet.

"Where do they keep finding these things?" he asked, marveling at the _Tulan_. For a ship that was already several times older than most civilizations ever manage it was in remarkably good condition.

"The Ancestors made war with the Wraith for one hundred years, before they were defeated," said Teyla. "I suspect the vestiges of their struggle will liter this galaxy for many millennia."

"They're hailing us," said Vala at the controls.

There was a ping from the cockpit's heads-up-display and the familiar face of Larrin Shivon appeared there. She looked worried.

"The council has already convened," she said. "Hurry up and dock, they come up with all sorts of stupid ideas if no one's there to supervise them."

**~~00~~**

Teyla Emmagan walked purposefully into the center of the dimly lit amphitheater that served as the meeting hall for the Governing Council of the Travelers. Its nine members were seated behind a single horseshoe shaped desk that was slightly raised and forced her to look up at them. Beside her Ronon Dex and Vala Mal Doran attempted to look tall and menacing, and experienced differing degrees of success. Daniel Jackson was studying a mural to his right of Lantean vessels ascending the walls and disappearing into the star filled dome over their heads. As emissary to Atlantis, Larrin observed the meeting from the back.

"We are here to offer our thanks for-" Teyla began, but Councilman Vega put a hand up.

"You are here to explain why you have failed to uphold the terms of our treaty," he said. "When our ships took up the task of defending inhabited worlds against the Wraith it was with the understanding that your people would provide Zero Point Modules to power them."

Teyla opened her mouth to speak but was again interrupted, this time by Councilwoman Telan.

"This year alone we have lost three battleships, and in return we have received six ZPMs of a promised total of twenty-eight," she said.

"You must understand that Atlantis was attacked," said Teyla hurriedly. "Nearly all of our reserves were destroyed, and-"

"And we've still brought you two of the damn things haven't we?" said Vala, gesturing to the strongbox lying open in front of Councilman Anthony.

Vega gave her an icy glare and leaned over his desk.

"Two of a promised shipment of six," he said. "Perhaps we could see our way clear to protecting one third of the-"

"You coward," said Ronon, drawing his Wraith mandible sword.

"Ronon, I am ordering you to put that away," said Teyla.

This meeting was quickly getting away from her. The people of the Pegasus galaxy needed the Travelers to keep up the pressure on the Wraith, but Atlantis simply didn't have the ZPMs to spare. She had made sure of that, she thought bitterly.

"I promise you," said Teyla, addressing the council. "That we will divert as many Zero Point Modules as we can to your ships. I am only asking for your patience while we rebuild our reserves."

"No," said Vega angrily. "You are asking us to fight your battles while your people do nothing, and we will not agree to it. We will hold our position in this system for two days. Either you will deliver the agreed upon number of ZPMs in good faith or we will order our vessels to retreat."

Larrin looked horrified.

"Councilman, those worlds are prime targets for culling," she said.

"As are our own," he said. "And I will not have the decisions of this council questioned by one of its captains."

Larrin took a step forward.

"Even so councilman, the fleet has grown too large to rely on scavenging parties for parts. We need those ZPMs," she said.

"And so we will get them," he said. "But if we don't... I dare say a few of our vessels could be scrapped to maintain a _smaller _defensive line."

His glare was now fixed on Larrin.

"Your vessel is in fairly good shape is it not, captain?"

Larrin said nothing.

"This audience is at an end," said Vega. "The terms of our treaty are clear and will be fulfilled, one way or the other."

Teyla was the first to leave the chamber followed quickly by Captain Larrin.

"The council rules by consent," she said as she caught up. "Abandoning those worlds will not be a popular decision, and if enough of the captains object they'll have no choice but to-"

"But they are right," said Teyla miserably. "We have failed to keep our promise and your people will be made to see that. We must convince the council to preserve the treaty of their own free will."

The other three members of the Atlantis envoy had caught up to them at this point and together they formed a conspiratorial huddle as Teyla went on.

"We must offer them something more valuable than ZPMs. Something that will allow them to extend the terms of the treaty without losing face."

Daniel Jackson put a hand up.

"I think I may be able to help with that," he said.

**~~00~~**

"I noticed the same thing when General Carter asked me to translate some glyphs aboard the _Tria_," said Daniel as he stumbled through the starlit Holo room back on Atlantis.

For the last few minutes he had been plucking at little points of light around the delta quadrant of the Pegasus Galaxy, throwing up a swirling mist of stars around Larrin and Teyla.

"That same mural but with a different set of constellations. When I finally found the system they belonged to I asked Colonel Caldwell to take me there, but the planets we found were all uninhabited," he continued. "But one of the planets had a crater about a hundred kilometers across that looked like it had been made by weapons fire. Wraith weapons."

"So the Wraith destroyed whatever was on the planet," said Larrin.

"Yes," said Daniel still searching through stars. "They burned it to the ground, but not before a few dozen of their ships were destroyed and left floating in high orbit."

"So what did the Lanteans have that the Wraith would sacrifice so much to destroy?" asked Teyla.

Daniel's eyes locked on a white dwarf star hovering just over Teyla's left ear and he grabbed at it grinning in triumph.

"Shipyards," he said, as the constellations he had seen aboard the _Tulan_ settled above his head.

"But that world has no stargate," said Teyla.

"Then I guess we'll have to get there the old fashioned way," said Larrin.

**~~00~~**

An hour later the team was greeted aboard the _Thor_ by Colonel Maya Sol.

"Welcome to the most powerful ship in Earth's fleet," she said as they followed her onto the bridge.

"I heard that mèimei," said a voice over the intercom.

On screen the crew of the _Vanity_ could be seen settling in, and Colonel Tom Sol was sitting at his command chair and smiling at his sister.

Maya Sol walked forward and pressed a button on the arm of her own command chair and the scene vanished.

"As I was saying," she said, turning back. "The _Thor_ is the fastest _Daedalus_-class ship in the fleet. We are equipped with the latest cloaking and weapons technologies to come out of Area 51, and we are altogether a far superior vessel to the _Vanity_."

"I heard that too," said Colonel Sol as the door to the bridge slid open. "It's a beautiful ship mèimei, but the _Vanity_ will run circles around her so long as I am at the helm, and an _experienced_ crew knows better than to rely on the superiority of their technology. Are you sure you don't want us along? Father said I should watch out for you."

Maya Sol took the hands of her older brother and squeezed them lovingly then let them fall.

"Major Shen," she snapped. "The colonel would like to visit the North-Pier."

"Aye aye," said the major.

There was a flash of white light and with a look of stunned disbelief Colonel Tom Sol was gone from the bridge.

"Lets get underway then," said a smiling Maya Sol.

**~~00~~**

The trip through hyperspace was relatively brief owing to the fact that Earth's second newest spaceship was possessed of two extremely powerful hyperdrive engines. Should one have failed, the second alone was supposed to be capable of propelling the ship nearly as fast as a Wraith Hive, though that claim had not yet been put to the test.

The _Thor_ came out of hyperspace on the far side of one of the target planet's natural satellites, a tumbling ball of ice and rock just large enough to land on. Under the instruction of Colonel Sol, a scouting party then took a cloaked jumper around it for a survey of the planet. Twenty minutes later they returned with a distressing report.

The Wraith were everywhere.

Ships in various stages of repair were floating above the atmosphere cloaked in organic nets that looked like evil hybrids of Wraith and Lantean technology. Down on the planet more ships were being grown in what had once been Lantean hangars, and work crews could be seen moving through the complex with weaponry and provisions to outfit them. Perhaps worst of all, the entire facility was protected by an energy shield suspiciously similar to the one over Atlantis.

"I'm sorry," said Colonel Sol. "I know this wasn't what you all were hoping to find, but we're here and we need to deal with this situation. We came equipped with a full complement of nuclear warheads, so: how many will it take to break through their defenses?"

"It is possible that no number will be sufficient," said Teyla. "The shield over Atlantis has been tested many times, even against the very weapons you speak of. It will persist so long as there is enough power to sustain it."

"Alright," said Colonel Sol. "This isn't the Milky Way. Our resources are limited. One Mark III would be enough to level those facilities if we could get it through that shield, so what are its weaknesses?"

"It's selective," said Daniel. "It won't hurt a puddle jumper."

"The one on Atlantis you mean," said Ronon. "How much do you want to bet this one's been modified?"

"Well it doesn't have to be a puddle jumper does it?" said Vala. "We do have a dart after all."

**~~00~~**

Maya Sol was not pleased when her brother arrived in the _Vanity_ three hours later. Particularly when he took the liberty of beaming himself onto her bridge.

"One Wraith Dart all gassed up and ready to fly ma'am," he said saluting smartly. "Happy to be of service."

**~~00~~**

The cockpit of the dart was cramped during the descent onto the planet. Ronon, Daniel, Teyla, and Larrin had flatly refused to let Vala beam them into the pattern buffers the Wraith used to keep their food fresh. That honor was reserved for the naquadah-enhanced warhead Colonel Sol — the younger Colonel Sol — had supplied for the mission.

Plan-A was to re-materialize the bomb just inside the shield covering the complex, but Teyla had been on enough missions with Colonel Sheppard to know that any real plan worth its salt was a plan-B. That's why no one panicked when a few meters from the shield the dart's autopilot suddenly engaged to bring the craft in for a landing. Ronon and Teyla had expected this as, even years later, their memories of the last time they had tried to use a Wraith Dart for a stealth mission were quite vivid.

The ship steered itself into a hangar on the eastern end of the complex and landed beside a row of darts being tended to by machines with the same look of hybridization about them that the rest of the facility had.

The canopy of the ship dematerialized as it set down and the team noisily disentangled themselves. It was fortunate that the hangar was deserted. Vala was the last one to climb out, but before she did she tapped a button on the control screen and the Mark III materialized on the floor in front of them. Teyla produced a life signs detector and scanned the room. Once she was satisfied that they were alone she outlined her new plan in a whisper.

"The shield appears to be emanating from generators housed in the two largest hangars to the north and south of our present location," she said. "We cannot know that disabling one of these generators will be sufficient to disable the shield so we will split up and execute a synchronized attack. Daniel and I will target the generator to the North while Vala and Larrin target the generator to the South."

"And me?" asked Ronon.

"You will guard the device," she said motioning to the bomb. "Set it for twenty minutes just as we are leaving and make sure its countdown is not interrupted."

"Any use of our coms will likely give away our position, so we will break radio silence only after the shield has fallen to contact the _Thor_ for beam out," she continued.

With that the team synchronized their watches and broke off to complete their assigned tasks.

**~~00~~**

High above the planet on the dark side of its cold icy moon Tom and Maya Sol sat in the control chairs of their respective ships and stared at one another over their view screens. If you looked closely tears could be seen welling up in their eyes. Maya Sol's lip trembled. Tom Sol let out a long low sigh. There was a pause and both of them seemed to stop breathing for almost a minute, and then… Tom blinked.

"Aha I beat you," said Maya, now laughing and blinking the moisture back into her own eyes. "You never could compete with me when it came to staring contests, Tom Tom."

"Agh it's just these new contacts I've been wearing," he said. "They don't breathe like the old ones did."

"Oh just admit it," said Maya. "Little league, violin, _ship captaining_, whatever the contest was I've always been better than you."

"Sure mèimei," he said diplomatically. "Though it couldn't have hurt that you always had an older brother to teach you how to do those things."

Outside, a Wraith Cruiser tumbled out of hyperspace almost on top of them, and alarms on both vessels began to sound. The cruiser appeared to have suffered damage, but that didn't stop it from opening fire.

The Sol siblings reacted quickly and lifted off the desolate moon before the first shots could reach them. Then they flanked the outclassed cruiser and sliced it into thirds with the plasma beams that had been gifted to humanity by the Asgard. This maneuver, while utterly destroying the cruiser, had the less desirable effect of alerting the entire hovering Wraith fleet to their presence.

All around them ships, some of them still looking slightly battle scarred while others looked practically new, trained their weapons on the Sols and their crews and prepared to annihilate them.

**~~00~~**

Alarms also began to sound on the planet as the Wraith were made aware of the battle that had broken out over their heads. From his post inside the east hangar Ronon peered out to see them drawing weapons and scrambling to man gun emplacements. Columns of Wraith warriors were also marching towards the north and south hangars, and it occurred to Ronon that now would be an excellent time for a distraction.

He drew his particle magnum and lined up a parked dart in the sights. He aimed for a spot he had discovered via a happy accident on a reconnaissance mission to M6H-491. Two shots was enough to dig through the thick organic shielding and ignite its fission core. The explosion echoed around the complex and when Ronon next poked his head outside the hangar the columns of drones had turned around and were closing on his position.

Sword in one hand and gun raised in the other, he waited for them to arrive.

**~~00~~**

After hurriedly crossing the expanse of open ground between the east and north hangar complexes, Teyla and Daniel, but mostly Daniel, hid behind a row of metal drums and caught their breath.

"So how do we get in?" Daniel asked.

Teyla peered out from around the barrels and saw a door jutting out from the hangar about twenty meters in front of them.

"We need a distraction," she said.

Behind them a Wraith dart exploded, and suddenly every drone was making for it with weapons drawn. A few of them practically bounded over the barrels they were hiding behind to get there, and when Teyla next looked up the entrance had been vacated.

"Now say 'we need a dozen ZPMs," said Daniel.

"Come on," said Teyla and pulled him forward.

Inside, the hangar was mostly open space, but along the side they had entered from the first fifty feet were taken up by laboratories filled with enormous bubbling cylinders. Inside each one was a blob of metallic purple goo. Mechanical components appeared to have been crudely pressed into them and the goo had grown in around them. Teyla guessed that these would become new Wraith ships with new capabilities, and new horrors for those who encountered them.

She pulled out her life-signs detector and scanned the area. Three life signs. She signalled for Daniel to get down and crept over to a thin dividing wall of a kind she had seen many times before in the conference room on Atlantis. As she approached its panels turned to reveal the room beyond and in one corner a small creature sat trapped behind a web of living purple goo.

She leveled her P-90 at it, but Daniel put a hand up and brought it back down.

"It looks like it's been held prisoner here," said Daniel. "Also we sort of owe their species an impossible debt the likes of which we can never hope to repay."

The Vanir in the cage looked up at them. As Vanir go it looked… thin, even starved.

"Please," it said. "There are others. Two maybe even three being held in the facility across from this one."

It tried to stand using the organic mesh for support, but its legs gave out underneath it. They looked broken.

Daniel took something from his pocket. It was a lightsaber… if lightsabers could be three inches long. The room started to smell like burning flesh as he cut through the cage and brought the Vanir out in his arms.

"You'll want… hugh… the generator," it breathed. "That way."

The three of them took off in the direction indicated by the trembling finger, but not before Teyla reached for her belt. Radio silence be damned.

"Vala, Larrin, come in. Be advised there are at least two Vanir being held captive in your vicinity. If you see can find them, they will need your help to evacuate when the shield goes down. They are not a threat," she said.

**~~00~~**

The hangar complex that housed the shield generator to the south was larger than the one to the north and Vala and Larrin had decided to split up and look for a way in. The plan was to circle around from either side and meet in the center. Larrin had happened upon a door with only one guard and downed him with a blast from her particle magnum.

Shortly after slipping inside she heard her radio crackle and Teyla's voice came through, masked by heavy static.

"Advised…..shhhhhh… Vanir… shhhhhh… your vicinity… They are… shhhhhh... threat…. shhhhh…" it said.

Larrin shut it off to stop it making noise, and in any case she didn't need to be told that the Vanir were a threat.

**~~00~~**

The Sols had earned their posts by turning flanking an enemy vessel into an art form. On Earth they had discovered this calling whilst piloting F-302s over the arctic, and anyone watching the _Thor_ and the _Vanity_ now might have believed they were controlled by one mind as they dodged in and out of sight amongst the wreckage they created at every turn. A cruiser would get a weapons lock on the _Thor_ only to have it disappear behind the corpse of a hive and suddenly the _Vanity_ would be bearing down on it from above. Angry darts with speed and maneuverability on their side would pursue the _Vanity _around a corner in the debris field to be met by a storm of rail gun fire from the _Thor_.

Slowly but surely the Wraith fleet dwindled until there were only a few cruisers and a heavily damaged hive remaining. These fled into hyperspace and for a time there was calm. Aboard the _Thor_ Maya Sol was enjoying the feeling of coming out on top in her first dogfight as a Colonel, when a swarm of darts left behind by the hive decloaked from below and went to ramming speed with their guns blazing.

The ship rocked as hundreds of shots struck the shield and then stopped as the more heavily armored _Vanity _dove between the _Thor_ and the closing darts.

Maya turned and screamed something terrible and incomprehensible to Major Shen as the _Vanity_ was destroyed in the maelstrom.

**~~00~~**

Ronon was a runner. A man the Wraith had abducted and implanted with a tracking beacon so they could hunt him for sport. The beacon was gone now, but he was still a runner. One of the best even, and the thing that made him so good was that sometimes he didn't run at all and other times he ran _at_ you.

Still, no matter how many times one Wraith drone sees another burned through the middle or hacked to bits it will still attack with the same murderous intensity. As the floor filled up with blood and bodies, Ronon was starting to tire. The Wraith hair handle of his particle magnum was soaked with sweat, and any moment now his second power cell would run out.

He brought his sword down hard on the last Wraith to make it through the open door of the hangar then pulled it out and wiped the blood and brains off on his pants. Outside a fresh column was approaching with their long organic rifles drawn.

In his hand the particle magnum murmured and died. He holstered it and bent down to go to work with his sword. A few seconds later he had six of the self-destruct devices the drones wore across their chests in the palm of his hand. Ronon slammed his fist down on one and let it fly into the advancing column of Wraith.

**~~00~~**

When the door opened, Larrin didn't hesitate. The Vanir had destroyed the first Traveler settlement she had ever known and killed thousands of people. She didn't see their chains. They had murdered Kelana and her new baby. She didn't see the wounds on their backs. They had been responsible for the death of her lieutenants Palto and Lerig. She didn't see their broken legs. What she saw was an enemy that had inflicted more suffering on her people in an instant than the Wraith had managed in her lifetime. She killed them both, and still she never really saw them.

**~~00~~**

Vala reached her target a few seconds before Teyla and Daniel reached theirs. The shield generators were powered by two ZPM's each and without them the shield crumbled to nothing.

**~~00~~**

Tom Sol was mourning the loss of his ship loudly, and Maya Sol was rubbing her temples in frustration as the entire crew of a _Daedalus_-class ship that no longer existed crowded into every nook and cranny of the _Thor_. How fast could they make it back to Atlantis, she wondered.

Then the call for evac came up from the planet and the _Thor _suddenly got a lot more crowded as the entire away team plus one Vanir were beamed onto the bridge. Maya Sol watched in awe as a plume of fire visible from space exploded far below. She had never nuked anything before, but it felt like an achievement. There would be nothing left of the complex. Later, when her brother was less distraught, she might even work in some bragging.

For the moment however, she still had a job to do. Larrin had taken one look at the Vanir, the only one to escape the inferno below, and drawn her weapon. Ronon had stepped between them and Teyla was doing her best to hold her back, but the Traveler was practically foaming with rage.

"They are murderers," she screamed.

"They were defenseless," said Teyla.

"We were defenseless."

Larrin broke free and charged but Maya was behind her and dropped the back of the enraged woman's knee to the floor with a boot then wrenched her arm behind her back and tore the gun from her hands. The _Thor_ was silent.

In a daze, Maya Sol stood up and stared around at her crew who stared back at her in frightened amazement. Larrin began to sob.

**~~00~~**

There were no goodbyes when the _Thor_ returned Larrin Shivon to Ankar. She had refused to so much as look at Daniel while he tried to explain why he couldn't execute the unconscious Vanir for its crimes. She heard only weakness and cowardice in his voice.

On the planet she met quietly with the few Traveler Captains who weren't currently off world, and sent messages to all the ones out on patrol who she thought would support her. Then she boarded a shuttle and paid a visit to the orbiting battleship.

Her eyes were filled with fire as she walked into the council chamber flanked by Captains Linik Trel and Mika Sen. Between them they laid four Zero Point Modules down in front of Councilman Vega.

He held them up to the light as if he wasn't sure what they were and then he smiled.

"So our treaty with the Lanteans has borne fruit after all," he said.

"Our treaty with the Lanteans is finished," said Larrin.

"What... Why?" asked Councilwoman Nivern baffled.

"Because they've chosen to conspire with our enemies," she replied. "From this moment on any dealings with the Lanteans will be considered treason."

Councilman Vega balked at her.

"And who are you to make such a decision?" he demanded. "The Council is the supreme governing body of the entire-"

Larrin slapped him.

"The Council rules by consent of the captains," she said. "And the captains have consented to a change in leadership."

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron**


	8. Legacy Janus

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 8**

**"Legacy Janus"**

"You're sure this is the place?" asked Cameron. He raised an eyebrow and looked around.

SG-1 stood on a hilltop overlooking the city of Spokane Valley, Washington. There were a few huge metamorphic rock structures exposed on the hillside, but there seemed to be nothing that would be of interest to a Stargate team. Someone had spray painted a blue and green lizard on one of the rock outcroppings, next to where someone else had painted "J+E" inside a heart shape.

"The glyphs on P7X-224 suggested that the laboratory would be here," said Danesh.

"See if you can find anything that looks like early Salish markings," said Daniel, inspecting the nearest boulder. It was normally impossible to pull Daniel away from Atlantis, but he couldn't pass up an opportunity to discover one of the Ancient scientist Janus's lost laboratories. Of all the Ancient Lanteans Daniel had learned about from the database on Atlantis, Janus was by far the most compelling.

"Because we know what that looks like," grumbled Greer.

"The Spokane Tribe spoke a form of Salish," explained Daniel. "The Salish language originally had no orthography, so the glyphs on P7X-224 were written in Goa'uld characters, but the only translation which made sense was a Salish one. What we are looking for are symbols suggestive of Native American mythology."

"Didn't the original SG-1 team go to a planet where the inhabitants spoke Salish?" asked Jessica.

"Yes," said Daniel. "We visited PXY-887 in 1998, one year after the Stargate program was restarted. But after our encounter with the people there, they buried their gate."

"The people of P7X-224 most likely share a common ancestry with them," said Danesh.

"Yes, but the two groups diverged pretty significantly after they left Earth," said Daniel. "The people of PXY-887 still practiced a form of their original Native American culture when we got there."

"Whereas the people on P7X-224 left behind cultural artifacts from several Earth civilizations," said Danesh.

"Yes," agreed Daniel. "Before they were wiped out, they must have been integrated with other groups of people by whatever system lord they served. It didn't stop them from leaving behind old legends and hidden messages about where they came from, though."

"Daniel!" shouted Greer, who had wandered over to one of the rocks further up the hill. "I think I found something!"

The team walked over to Greer and looked at the face of the rock next to him. Etched into the surface was the clear shape of a coyote.

"Think this is important?" asked Greer.

"Probably just something local kids did," said Cameron.

"I disagree, Colonel Mitchell," said Danesh. "Judging from the wear, this carving could be incredibly old."

"The coyote is an important figure in Salish folklore," said Daniel. "He was a trickster and a deceiver."

"The glyphs on P7X-224 refer to a coyote," said Danesh. "The description we found called him an 'inventor.'"

Daniel fumbled in his jacket, pulling a small tablet out and putting his glasses on to better see it. He opened a document with pictures of the glyphs and scrolled through them until he found the right one.

"When the coyote needs to build new tools to better trick the various animals, he will stand before the image of himself and announce his return," translated Daniel.

"Sounds easy enough," said Cameron, stepping forward to stand directly in front of the carving of the coyote. "The coyote has returned."

Nothing happened.

"Maybe try 'Janus' instead of 'coyote,'" suggested Jessica. "That was his Lantean name, right?"

Cameron cleared his throat. "Janus has returned," he said.

Greer checked his watch and rolled his eyes. Daniel pushed his glasses up on his nose and furrowed his brow in concentration.

"Any more bright ideas?" asked Cameron.

"Doesn't most ancient technology require the ATA gene to operate?" asked Jessica.

"Cameron has it," said Daniel, flipping through more images on the tablet in his hand. "Every new SG team member's initial medical exam includes ATA gene therapy."

"Perhaps we should consider linguistic differences between the Salish language and your own," said Danesh. "My brief study of the language group suggested certain pragmatic differences. For example, statements in Salish do not require any implication regarding the listener's knowledge. Only the speaker's knowledge is considered."

"So if he were speaking Salish," interrupted Daniel, "he wouldn't say 'Janus has returned.' Since he already knows his own identity, he would just say 'I have returned.'"

Nothing happened. Jessica, Danesh, Greer, and Cameron looked at Daniel expectantly.

"Well obviously he wouldn't say it in English," said Daniel. He stepped forward next to Cameron and looked at the symbol of the coyote.

"This isn't an exact translation, but here we go:" he said, "čn lʔe."

Aaron Grimes watched from from a vantage point a a hundred meters away as Daniel Jackson and SG-1 vanished into thin air.

**~~00~~**

**One month earlier:**

Taking a break from hiking to drink from his water bottle, Aaron sat down on a small rock and looked out across the valley. Spokane Valley was more or less a glorified suburb of Spokane, but it was technically its own city, and for Aaron it was home. Though his grandmother was a full-blood Native American of the Spokane Tribe and one of the last remaining native speakers of the Spokane-Kalispel dialect of Salish, his European ancestry dominated his appearance. None of the neighbors in his mostly-white neighborhood could guess that he was 1/8th Native American.

Aaron stood up and walked over to one of the large metamorphic rock outcroppings that dotted the hillside. He knelt down and found the place on the rock where he and his high school girlfriend had written their names with spray paint. The names were faded from years of wear, but he could still make them out. Further up the rock was the carving of a coyote that had been there for as long as he could remember. Back when he was in school, Aaron would hike up these hills with his friends every summer. It had been years since he'd taken the time to climb to this vantage point. Over time he had stopped talking to the friends he had known in high school; he retreated into his own private world of imagination and science fiction. He worked a bleak office job, and only spoke to his co-workers when it was necessary. Everyday after work he went home and sat in his apartment, daydreaming about space and cursing his fortune for being born too early in human history to be able to explore the stars.

It had been a sudden unexplained wave of nostalgia that morning that inspired Aaron to leave his apartment on a Saturday and hike to the site of long-past adolescent memories. Standing up, he took in the beautiful summer day and sighed. He remembered what his grandma said about living simply and being present in every moment. "I am here," she would always say. She thought it was important for her children and grandchildren to learn some of her ancient language, so she would repeat it in the tongue of the Spokane people. Though he cared little for history, or the culture his grandmother was so proud of, he let that early morning nostalgia humor her memory with an utterance of Salish.

"čn lʔe," he said, before vanishing.

**~~00~~**

The lights of the laboratory lit up in response to Aaron's arrival. He dropped his water bottle on the floor and the sound echoed through the room. Around him were terminals and workstations that looked like something out of _Farscape_. Everything was lit with blue tinted lights that gave the place an aquatic feeling.

"Hello?" he called out hopefully.

Suddenly a woman appeared in front of him. She was wearing a silk robe and was looking at something just to the right of where Aaron was standing.

"Welcome back, Janus," said the woman, smiling warmly. "It has been nine-thousand two-hundred and thirty-seven years, five months, and eleven days since your last visit."

Aaron stared at the woman, who was still looking at empty air.

"Can you see me?" he asked.

"Would you like me to review the experiments you performed during your last visit?" she asked, unmoving.

Aaron reached out to touch the woman, but his hand went right through her. She shimmered and pixelated where his hand met her arm. He pulled his hand back and looked at her, eyes wide.

"What are you?" he asked.

"I am the interface program you designed for the database of this research facility," she said. "My name is Faren."

"I must have forgotten," said Aaron, looking around the laboratory. This is so cool, he thought.

"My purpose is to maintain your records and knowledge," said Faren. "I will answer any inquiries you have to the best of my ability."

Aaron walked over to a bench where he saw a device that looked like a bracelet. It was made of dark steel with shallow depressed lines in the shape of a glyph on its face.

"What is this?" he asked.

"The device you refer to is your latest invention," said Faren. "It attaches to the user's wrist. Using the user's DNA and information available from the user's surroundings, it predicts probable futures."

As he reached for the device, she spoke again.

"During your last visit, you noted that the device was unfinished, and not ready for testing," she said.

"Is it safe?" asked Aaron.

"I could not say," responded the holographic interface program.

"Only one way to find out," said Aaron, picking up the device. As he set it on his wrist, it clamped shut. He felt a dozen tiny pinpricks on his wrist, and saw the depressed lines on the face of the device glow blue. Aaron pulled at the clasp on the bracelet, but it did not budge.

"The device has bonded itself to your arm on a molecular level," said Faren. "You have recorded no instructions on how to safely remove it."

**~~00~~**

Aaron grunted with effort as he brought the hammer down on the wrist device once again. The device was unscathed. Frustrated, he threw the hammer onto the workbench in front of him and cursed. He was sitting in his dad's workshop, surrounded by tools that couldn't even dent the Ancient wristband.

"There is a 0.0000016% chance that continuing your current activity will destroy this unit," came the robotic voice of the device. "There is a 99.67% chance that you will die if this unit is destroyed. This unit has been integrated into your central nervous system."

"Would you shut up?" said Aaron, covering the device with his other hand in an attempt to muffle its sound. "Someone might hear you!"

"Switching to telepathic communication," declared the device.

[There is a 12.83% chance a passerby heard this unit's audio output. There is a 0.166% chance of further investigation by passerby.]

"I'm sorry I accidentally found that freaky alien lab," said Aaron. "I just want this thing off my arm. How do I get it off?"

[Calculating possible futures…]

"Oh, can it," said Aaron. He stood up and looked around for anything else that could help remove the device. He couldn't risk going to a hospital with the device still stuck to his arm. He knew how the government handled alien stuff; he had seen _E.T._

"Isn't there an eject button or something?" he muttered.

[If you chose to remove this unit, your body will suffer catastrophic nerve damage. This unit predicts a 99.67% chance of death as a result.]

"It's only been on my arm for an hour!" shouted Aaron. "Just get it off!"

[Safety override accepted.]

The device suddenly popped open and fell off Aaron's arm onto the floor. He smiled and rubbed the area of his forearm that had been covered by the device.

"Finally!" he said, right before an unbearable pain erupted from his forearm, despite there being no visible injury. Aaron felt tears coming from his eyes, but when a drop of blood fell from his face onto his shirt, he realized that he wasn't crying at all. Within seconds, blood began to seep from the pores of his skin.

Before long Aaron Grimes lost consciousness and slumped to the floor, where he bled to death. Later that day a man in an Air Force uniform appeared on the scene to collect the Ancient device and the unrecognizable corpse attached to it. A convincing latex mannequin duplicate was provided for the funeral.

**~~00~~**

"I'm sorry I accidentally found that freaky alien lab," said Aaron. "I just want this thing off my arm. How do I get it off?"

[Calculating possible futures…]

"Oh God," said Aaron. "Was that… the future? Did you show me the future?"

[The function of this unit is to predict probable futures based on available data. What you just witnessed was the most likely future, based on your previous actions and hormone levels. The recommendation of this unit is that you alter your course to avoid this future.]

When the device had latched onto his arm in the lab, he had panicked. He began to think of ways to pry the device off his arm, and he found himself teleported out of the lab, back to the hillside where he had taken a break from his hike. Without stopping to think about what the device on his arm was, he had run down the hill, gotten in his car, and drove to his parent's house, which was closer than his apartment. He had seen _Alien_; he knew no good could come of having anything extraterrestrial inside of you. Aaron had always been prone to panic attacks, but this was a whole new level of panic.

Standing in his dad's workshop having just witnessed his own death, he stopped to consider for the first time what was actually attached to his wrist.

"You can tell me any probability?" he asked.

[This device is designed to predict probable futures based on data available. The accuracy of this device's predictions increases with an increased volume of data.]

"Do you have an ethernet port?" said Aaron.

**~~00~~**

[Accessing all discernable wireless frequencies.]

Aaron watched as the design on the front of the wrist device dimmed to an almost imperceptible shade of dark blue against the black surface of the device. After a few moments it lit back up.

[All available data processed. The accuracy of this unit's predictions has increased by 567.12%.]

"Ok. Let's test you out. What's the next winning Washington Lottery number?" asked Aaron.

[This unit predicts there is a 99.997% chance that the winning lottery number will be 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42.]

"Damn. What's something else…. is there sentient life on other worlds?"

[There is a 100% probability that sentient life exists on other worlds.]

Aaron put his hands on his head and paced back and forth in the shop.

"I knew it! I knew it!" he said, grinning. He wasn't born too early after all. He stopped pacing as an idea dawned on him. "I wonder… what is the best way to get to another inhabited world?"

[This unit predicts that the most efficient means of transportation to other populated worlds is via a Stargate.]

"Tell me about this Stargate," said Aaron.

[Calculating possible futures…]

**~~00~~**

**Present Day:**

SG-1 appeared in Janus' laboratory. The blue lighting scheme Daniel recognized from Atlantis activated, and a hologram of a woman appeared in front of them.

"...Hello," said Daniel, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

The woman was wearing a silk robe and smiled warmly.

"Welcome back, Janus," she said. "It has been three weeks and two days since your last visit."

"Well, that's odd," said Daniel. "And who are you?"

"I am the interface program you designed for the database of this research facility," she said. "My name is Faren."

Cameron nodded at Greer and Jessica, and the three of them spread out, checking the facility.

"What is this place?" asked Danesh.

"This is the research facility you use to test your new inventions," explained Faren.

"Janus must have come here after Atlantis was evacuated," mused Daniel. "The people of P7X-224 referred to him as the Coyote, so he must have been pretending to be a spirit to explain his advanced technology."

"But why here?" asked Danesh. "There is no evidence of any other Ancient settlements in this area."

"He would have wanted to keep his work secret from the other Ancients," said Daniel. "I'm guessing they never knew about this place. Janus must have thought no one else would even try to get in."

"At least no one without the ATA gene," said Cameron, returning from his sweep. "Which the locals wouldn't have had."

"All clear," said Greer, returning to the center of the room with Jessica.

"So you think that we are Janus," said Danesh, looking at the hologram of Faren.

"Your last visit was three weeks and two days ago," said Faren. "If you have further questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability."

"Who exactly is this Janus guy again?" asked Greer.

"Perhaps I could introduce myself," said a voice behind them.

Daniel Jackson and SG-1 turned around to see a man wearing Ancient robes similar to the ones Faren had. There was a sleek black device on his left wrist with glowing blue lines forming a pattern on the surface.

"Welcome to my laboratory," said the man. "My name is Janus."

**~~00~~**

"You can't be Janus," said Daniel. "Janus is dead."

"And yet here I am," said Janus.

"Has anyone here ever met Janus before?" asked Greer, who had trained his P90 on the man as soon as he appeared.

"The only person I know who ever actually met him was Elizabeth Weir," said Daniel. "But she died several years ago."

"Then he could be telling the truth," said Danesh.

"I don't see how," said Daniel. "The Ancients lived so long ago that there couldn't be any left, at least any that didn't ascend, unless they were frozen in stasis-"

"Brilliant, doctor," said Janus. He gestured toward the stasis pod at the far end of the laboratory.

"He's right, Daniel," said Jessica. "The stasis pod looks like it's been used recently."

Daniel looked at the pod, then back at Janus.

"Why now?" he asked. "If you've been here all this time, why wait until now to contact us?"

"We sure could have used your help fighting off the Ori," said Cameron.

"And the Goa'uld," added Danesh.

"It's simple," explained Janus. "I was waiting for you to discover me here. And now that you have, I'd like to join SG-1."

**~~00~~**

Daniel and Cameron appeared on the hillside above Janus' laboratory, next to the rock outcropping with the Coyote carving. They walked a few meters up the hill, and then Cameron dialed a number on his cell phone and set it to speaker.

"How's it going, Cam?" came Sam's voice.

"We found the lab," said Daniel. "And something else."

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well, there is someone down there claiming to be Janus himself," said Daniel.

"Greer, Warren, and Danesh are keeping an eye on him," said Cameron.

"How could he still be alive?" asked Sam.

"He says he's been riding out the millennia in a stasis pod, coming up every once in awhile to stir up superstition among the locals," explained Cameron.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" asked Sam.

"There is a stasis pod in the lab," said Daniel. "And it's been used recently."

"He seemed to know we were coming, Sam," said Cameron. "He's wearing a device on his wrist that he says predicts probable outcomes."

"Well, no matter who he is, if he has Ancient technology we haven't seen before, we should know about it," said Sam. "Bring him to Area 51. I will brief Colonel Telford on the situation."

"You don't want him at Stargate Command?" asked Cameron.

"Until we know what we're dealing with, we can't compromise the security of the Stargate," said Sam.

"Copy that," said Cameron. "Mitchell out."

**~~00~~**

"So what exactly does that thing do?" asked Greer, indicating the device on Janus' left wrist.

"It uses information from my surroundings to predict possible futures, and then shows them to me telepathically," explained Janus.

"Still not sure I get it," said Greer.

"It's a little out there, but it's not inconceivable," said Jessica. "I'll be interested to have a look at it."

"Have you ever seen _The Last Starfighter_?" asked Janus. "It's kinda like when Alex-"

"What did you say?" interrupted Jessica. "That movie came out when I was a kid. What would an Ancient who has been in stasis for the last thousand years know about _The Last Starfighter_?"

"Well, you see, I," Janus stammered. "It's actually more like _Prince of Persia_, you know, the video game-"

Jessica and Greer aimed their P90s at him. Danesh's hand flew to the Zat gun on her hip.

"Aw, hell," said Janus. "Alright, fine. My name isn't Janus. It's Aaron. But I still want to join SG-1."

**~~00~~**

Aaron sat in a clean white room on a metal chair. In front of him was a metal desk, and sitting across from him was a man in a crisp grey suit. A security guard stood next to the door, which was next to a large mirror. The mirror was obviously two-way.

"Why am I in an interrogation room?" asked Aaron. "I've already told you everything I know. I found Janus' lab, I accidentally put this device that can see the future on my arm, and now I want to join SG-1 because I would totally be an asset to the team!"

The man in the grey suit cleared his throat and placed a briefcase on the desk, opening it and pulling out a stack of cards.

"Aaron Grimes, is that correct?" asked the man, shuffling the cards.

"Yeah, and who are you?" retorted Aaron.

"Will you please explain how the device you found in the Ancient laboratory works?" said the man, showing no expression as he finished shuffling and carefully set the deck on the table.

"How many times do I have to explain this? I already told the team all about it," complained Aaron.

"Just one more time, for the record," insisted the man, flashing a smile devoid of all emotion.

"Fine. The device tells me about probabilities," explained Aaron. "Sometimes it just tells me what the chances are of something happening, and sometimes it shows me the most likely future, you know, like in _Final Destination_. Except without the inevitable gruesome death by tanning bed, of course."

"I see," said the stoic government man in the grey suit, picking up the top card of the deck in front of him and looking at it. "I'd like to try something. Please describe the image printed on this card."

[This unit predicts that there is a 97.42% chance that the card in question displays the roman character 'A' in Times New Roman font, size 32, printed in blue ink.]

"It's the letter A," said Aaron. "Times New Roman font, size 32, blue ink."

Grey Suit set the card face up on the table. It was exactly as Aaron described it.

"Now this one," said Grey Suit, picking up another card.

"A photo of a blue rhododendron," said Aaron.

Once again, he was correct.

"The Eiffel Tower, a dog, the number 7, and the nine Chevron address used to dial the _Destiny_," said Aaron, raising an eyebrow. "Do I need to go on?"

Grey Suit flipped over the next four cards, revealing The Eiffel Tower, a dog, the number 7, and the nine Chevron address used to dial the _Destiny_.

"No, thank you," said Grey Suit. "That will be quite enough."

"So can I join SG-1 now?" asked Aaron.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," said Grey Suit. "We'd like to keep you here at Area 51 for some more tests."

[Calculating possible futures…]

The door opened and the security guard stood aside as a man in an Air Force uniform walked in. Aaron noticed the gun holster on his hip.

[This unit estimates that the chance of successful escape is currently 89.23%.]

Aaron felt the muscles in his legs tense as he prepared to make a play for the door.

[This unit estimated that the chance of escaping without inflicting casualties is currently 0.45%.]

Aaron relaxed and sat back against the chair.

"My name is Colonel David Telford," said the new arrival. "Welcome to Area 51."

**~~00~~**

The sharp sound of knuckles rapping on the door woke Aaron from a particularly pleasant dream in which he was the newest crew member of the firefly-class ship _Serenity_.

"Wake up, Aaron," said Major Ellis. "Telford wants you in the testing room in an hour."

It had been two months since Aaron arrived at Area 51, and every day of those two months had been filled with test after test. Once the scientists had determined that there was no way to remove the device from Aaron's arm without killing him and rendering the device useless, they proceeded to put him through every controlled experiment they could dream up to test his ability to predict the future. Colonel Telford was present at most every test, eager to unlock the secrets of the device.

Aaron often considered escape, but doing so would almost certainly result in injuries and deaths. Though the device had yet to show him a scenario where he was allowed to join SG-1 or see the Stargate at all, he could not bring himself to hurt anyone, let alone be responsible for anyone's death.

He groaned and stumbled out of bed, pulling on the uniform that had been laid out for him on the desk. He opened the door and walked down the hall to the mess with Major Ellis. The two men loaded up their trays with breakfast and coffee, and sat down at a table.

"How are you feeling this morning, Aaron?" asked Ellis, sipping his coffee.

"They're never going to let me go," said Aaron. "I should have known this would happen. It's always the same with the government."

"Oh come on," said Ellis, smiling. "They're working on a way to get that thing off your arm. As soon as they do, I'm certain they will let you go."

"What if I don't want it off?" asked Aaron. "I could do a lot of good with this thing. I could do SG-1 a lot of good. All I've ever wanted was to explore the universe, but as soon as I found out that was possible, the government took me hostage."

"The government's not all bad," said Ellis. "Don't be so pessimistic."

Aaron sighed and looked over at the emergency exit door, where an armed guard was standing.

[This unit estimates that the chance of successful escape is currently 93.2%.]

**~~00~~**

"So can I join SG-1 now?" asked Aaron.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible," said Grey Suit. "We'd like to keep you here at Area 51 for some more tests."

[Calculating possible futures…]

The door opened and the security guard stood aside as Colonel Telford walked in. Aaron noticed the gun holster on his hip.

[This unit estimates that the chance of successful escape is currently 89.23%.]

Aaron felt the muscles in his legs tense as he prepared to make a play for the door.

[This unit estimated that the chance of escaping without inflicting casualties is currently 0.45%.]

"Screw this," said Aaron. He shoved the metal desk forward, sending Grey Suit sliding into the far wall. As Telford and the guard reached for their weapons, Aaron stood up and flipped the metal chair he was sitting on up into his hands. He swung the chair at Telford, hitting the Colonel across the skull and knocking him to the ground. Tossing the chair aside, Aaron quickly covered the distance between himself and the guard, parrying the guard's pistol out of the way with one hand and jabbing him in the throat with the other. As the guard clutched his throat trying to breathe, Aaron pointed his own gun at him and walked sideways through the open door before taking off down the hallway. Piercing alarms began to sound and red lights flashed on the walls.

As he ran, two airmen appeared around the corner at the far end of the hall. Without hesitating, Aaron shot both of them in the head with deadly accuracy, and ran past them as their corpses slumped to the floor.

[This unit calculates that the chance of successful escape decreases by 1.82% for every minute the security forces of this facility are focused on capturing you.]

"Better cause a distraction then," said Aaron, turning down a hallway and entering a doorway on the left hand side. Inside there was a technician and an armed guard, and beyond them stood the Trenalian Helbeast, known around Area 51 as 'Sparky'. Aaron shot the technician and the guard before they could react to his arrival.

**~~00~~**

Down a distant hallway, Aarron could hear airmen engaging the helbeast. Taking advantage of the momentary distraction, he ran toward the hangar bay. As he arrived at the hangar bay doors, a blast door slammed shut in front of him, and he felt a tranquilizer dart hit him in the back. He turned around in time to see Colonel Telford, still bleeding from the side of his head, holding a tranq gun.

"I guess you can't see every future," said Telford.

Aaron's vision began to blur, and then he lost consciousness.

**~~00~~**

"What you're suggesting is inhumane, and I won't allow it."

"Fortunately that's not up to you, Colonel Mitchell. We can't allow him to leave, it is far too dangerous."

"With all due respect, Telford, there is no danger that is worth_ this_."

"I don't think you understand the situation here Colonel. The more information he is exposed to, the more accurate his predictions become. He sees every possible variation of the future. It's a fluke that we subdued him in the first place. Total lockdown is the only way to prevent him from escaping."

"I still believe that he was only acting in self-defense. He never would have tried to escape if we had let him participate in the program, instead of keeping him like a rat. Remember that he came to us."

"Pretending to be someone else. And now he's proven how deadly he can be. The man is genetically bonded to what may be the most powerful weapon we've ever discovered."

Aaron opened his eyes, slowly. He was strapped to a hospital bed, being wheeled through a hallway. He felt groggy; it was hard to focus.

[This unit predicts there is currently a 12.84% chance of successful escape.]

"It looks like he's coming to. Sedate him, doctor!"

Aaron's vision began to swim, and he felt his eyelids drooping.

[This unit predicts there is currently a 1.52% chance of successful escape.]

"You're not going to get away with this, Telford."

"Guards, please remove the Colonel from the compound."

"You sick bastard. I'll be back, and I'm coming for you."

Aaron saw Colonel Mitchell dragged off down the hallway. Aaron struggled to sit up against the straps holding him down, but he was far too weak.

He was wheeled into a dark room, where he was secured to metal restraints and fitted with various tubes to fulfil his bodily functions. The men left, and then there was total darkness, and total silence. Complete sensory deprivation.

[This unit predicts there is currently a 0.034% chance of escape.]

**~~00~~**

In his dad's workshop, Aaron stopped pacing as an idea dawned on him. "I wonder… what is the best way to get to another inhabited world?"

[This unit predicts that the most efficient means of transportation to other populated worlds is via the Stargate.]

"Tell me more about this Stargate," said Aaron.

[Calculating possible futures…]

In an instant, he saw himself learning all about the Stargate Program and SG-1, concocting a plan to trick SG-1 into accepting him as a member, and ultimately being captured, tested, and locked away in a high-security cell at Area 51.

Aaron had now confirmed what he knew from watching _V for Vendetta_: the government was not to be trusted. If he was going to explore the stars, he'd have to do it on his own.

**~~00~~**

One week before SG-1 travelled to P7X-224, a man wearing an Air Force uniform passed through security using Major Danzer's ID badge. The security guard on shift was thinking about the date he went on the night before and trying to decide how long to wait before calling the girl again; the subtle visual differences between Major Danzer and the man purporting to be Major Danzer were lost on him.

At 2:05 a.m. the man who was not Major Danzer relieved Sergeant Walter Harriman, who had just finished a nine hour shift and was looking forward to getting some sleep. Though Harriman was usually meticulous about protocol, the day had been a little too slow, and he was a little too tired to make sure the man replacing him had the proper authorization.

The man who was not Major Danzer and who did not have the proper authorization entered a seven chevron address into the dialing computer, and walked briskly down to the gate room as a wormhole opened. As the event horizon settled into the Stargate, the man walked up the ramp. Before walking through, he turned around and smiled.

"So long, and thanks for all the fish," he said, before walking through the open wormhole.

Thirty seconds later, the gate room was flooded with armed airmen, who arrived just in time to watch the Stargate shut down.

"Can someone tell me what just happened?" asked General Samantha Carter.

"Someone activated the gate and walked through," said Harriman, who was still rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"Who was it? Where did they go?" Sam yelled.

"I don't know, General," said Harriman apologetically. "The log has been erased. I wasn't here when it happened."

"How could someone dial the gate and get through the event horizon before anyone else noticed?" Sam asked.

She stared at the Stargate. _I wonder what the chances are that the IOA will hear about this_, she thought.

[Calculating possible futures…]

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Caleb Palmquist and Andrew Marron**


	9. Beginning Again and Again

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 9**

"**Beginning Again and Again"**

It had occurred to Todd that accepting an assignment to the Genesis Mission would mean months aboard an isolated spaceship filled to the brim with humans. It had also occurred to him that most of those humans would find his presence offensive or even hateful. What had not occurred to him was that these things would bother him. The way people stole glances at his artificially smoothed palms, the hurried way conversations ended when he entered a room, the glares he could feel on his back, it was all to be expected and yet, it hurt. The serum still needs work, he thought. It's made me a little _too _human.

"D-Do you need any help in here," said a voice behind him.

Todd turned around and saw the tiny frame of Communications Officer, Dr. Bailey Evans, standing in the doorway. He smiled, but kept his lips together so as not to show the points of his teeth. Besides Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Evans was the only member of the _Elizabeth's_ crew who would willingly speak to him and he wanted to encourage her.

"Thank you Dr. Evans," he said, turning back to the Ansible Device, "I have nearly finished with my calibration, but I will need to do it again once we have traveled an additional three billion light years. I would be delighted to have your assistance then."

"Oh, of c-course," she said, somehow managing to sound relieved and disappointed at the same time. "I'll be on the b-bridge if you change your mind."

Todd watched her leave. The stutter perplexed him. He knew she only did it when she spoke to him, but if she feared him then why did he so often find her nearby? Then suddenly he had a very _human _thought: it must be empathy. It made sense. The creature Evans was soft and round, a shape he had gathered was not approved of by her tribe. The males of her race would have shunned her, and the females had likely excluded her from their rituals. She had experienced the suffering of the one who is not like the others, and now she had witnessed the same suffering in him and was trying to relieve it.

Empathy. It was a concept that had taken him two years of living amongst humankind to fully understand. It was not simply the ability to anticipate the actions of another, but the ability to experience vicariously the pain or the joy that would lead to those actions, and it was the ability to take on that pain and lessen it or to share that joy and multiply it. It was a level of inter-organism communication that was surely unparalleled in the universe, and it was the reason humanity was so dangerous. If you understood the cause of pain, then you understood how to _cause _pain.

The Ansible Device lit up as Todd dropped the last of its control crystals into place. He smiled at how very… human it looked.

The ancient stones had been a technological marvel. Inhabiting another person's body may not have been the most convenient way to communicate across vast distances, but as far as he knew it was the only way that had ever worked. As with all things though, it had not been good enough for humanity. They had insisted that it conform to their expectations of such a device, despite the fact that it was the first they had ever seen and likely the only one of its kind in either the Milky Way or Pegasus. But he had done what they had asked. The Ansible Device he had delivered would allow them to project a three-dimensional image of themselves across nearly infinite distances in an instant without the need for trading consciousnesses. What most of them didn't know, and had not even asked, was how he had done it.

Todd removed a panel in the device and looked inside. In the center of a mass of protruding crystals was a purple web of organic polymers that were the building blocks of all Wraith technology. For Todd the answer had been obvious. The communication stones required a biological conduit, and anything that biological conduit could transmit, so too could the stones. Todd reflected bitterly that if Sheppard could see this he might liken the glorious organic circuitry to a malignant growth, a tumor, not realizing how crucial it really was. The webbing looked healthy and he was about to replace the panel when he saw something odd.

He took a closer look at a strand of webbing wrapped around the communication stone at the center of the device and saw some very light discoloration. It looked like… scar tissue. Which would mean that a tiny section had been removed long enough ago for the organic polymers to grow back in and cover the wound.

Todd reached for his tablet. He didn't like using it. Its surface was cold to the touch and the screen responded poorly to the scrape of his long fingernails. He used it now to bring up the list of crew members who had used the device since their departure from Earth.

There was Colonel Sheppard, Dr. Evans, Eli Wallace, and then… no one. Of course it had to be someone, but whomever it was they had not entered an authorization code and the system had recorded them as an unknown user. Somehow they had gotten through his security wall and made contact with Earth not once but five times in the last month. Todd brought up the recording of the most recent of these communications. From the time stamp he saw that it had occurred only hours before.

The Ansible Device whirred and started to project symbols into the air. Nine symbols were repeated twice in the same order each time, and that was all. They weren't Wraith in origin and they weren't gate symbols, but Todd could recognize them. Anyone on the _Elizabeth_ would have recognized them. They were what drove the ship. Nine of one-hundred and twenty-eight symbols that could take you anywhere in the universe… if you had a gate drive.

Todd put his computer down and walked almost dazedly out of the room. His feet found a flight of steps by themselves and directed him down passed the gate room and toward the bow of the ship. He turned a corner and suddenly he could hear the titanium ring of the gate drive powering up. He broke into a sprint.

He didn't know why, but he had a very bad feeling. He rounded a corner at speed and terrified humans darted away from him as he passed. He could hear it spinning. Around another corner Dr. Evans shrieked and threw her hands up over her eyes. He kept going. The symbols were locking into place, he could hear them. First one, then two, then four, then eight and then he was there. He stared wildly around the room and took in the shape of someone crouched beside the gate drive with control crystals strewn across the floor. The figure saw him and leapt away, but Todd had clearly arrived too late. The _Elizabeth_ was ready to jump.

**~~00~~**

"This. Is. Stupid," Eli panted as he circled the Colonel in the decon chamber that was serving as their sparring gallery. Sweat clung to the bantos rods he held in either hand. It flowed out of his palms and followed the curves of the elegant designs carved into the wood before dripping off onto the padded floor.

"It's not stupid," said Colonel Sheppard calmly.

He brought the rod in his left hand down hard and when Eli raised both of his own rods to block it he used the rod in his right hand to strike at him just above the knee. Eli's peroneal nerve sent a shockwave down the length of his leg that caused it to twitch uncontrollably and he instinctively switched most of his weight to his right foot. John whirled around and hooked a rod under it then went up from the knees and dropped the boy to the mat.

"It's saved my life more times than I can count," he said as Eli struggled to his feet behind him. "You just need more practice."

"Yeah well being really smart has saved my life a few times too you know," said Eli. "Granted it hasn't been more times than I can count, but I can count pretty high so it's probably a wash."

Colonel Sheppard opened his mouth to say something witty, but Eli held up a hand and looked at his watch.

"Any second now," he said.

It only took a moment for the _Elizabeth_ to jump, but it wasn't a good idea to let it catch you off guard. The feeling was like closing your eyes at dusk only to open them a moment later at dawn. It threw a person's sense of time out the window, and it was easy to panic and start believing it had been hours since you had taken your last breath. There was a humming noise as the _Elizabeth's_ sublight engines fired and took the ship into the newly made wormhole, and then everything went slightly sideways. It was at this instant in a jump that Eli was sure if he could only turn his head he would see copies of himself stretching back into the past. And then it was over. Or not.

There was a crash and Eli tumbled to the floor with Colonel Sheppard on top of him.

"Ugh," said Eli, as the alarms began.

"Come on," said the Colonel, getting up. "I think I'd like to know what that was."

**~~00~~**

On the bridge of the _Elizabeth_ Major Lauren Burnette was doing damage control. The ship had dropped out into an asteroid field and the proximity detector hadn't activated her shields. She hadn't even had time to send them up herself before the first asteroid had plowed into them and sent sparks and armor plating spinning off into space. The gate drive room in particular had taken heavy damage, but at least it hadn't decompressed.

Now the shields were up, but she needed teams to assess the damage, and isolate any compromised sections of the hull. The erratic pressure readings she was getting told her they were venting atmosphere in at least three places, and emergency hatches weren't responding. Damnit, she thought. It was too much to suggest that the proximity detectors and the emergency hatches would both malfunction at once; this was sabotage.

"Major, report," said Colonel Sheppard from behind her. He was striding toward the command chair and she got up quickly.

"We've somehow gotten off course," she said. "And several key emergency systems have failed. I've initiated a lockdown of the ship's sensitive areas."

He brought up the virtual schematic of his ship and saw the ugly scrape running along the starboard side of its body.

"Casualties?" he asked.

"Coming in now," said Lieutenant Jacoby, with a hand planted firmly over his headset. "Four concussions, a dozen broken bones and lesser sprains, and… and one dead, Airman Tracy Mitchell was in corridor twelve when the asteroid tore a hole in it."

Eli groaned and leaned on a bulkhead for support. He hadn't known Tracy Mitchell well, but you never forget a man once you've been inside of him.

The door to the bridge opened again and Todd came in escorted by two armed marines who had bound his wrists together with cable ties.

Colonel Sheppard turned around in his chair when he heard the Wraith growl his name in that ancient raspy voice that always reminded him of a Genii prison cell, and got up quickly when he saw the restraints.

"Unless those are a lot stronger than they look I suggest you remove them, soldier," he said addressing the marine behind Todd's left shoulder.

"Allow me," said Todd, and he ripped the ties apart like they were threads. The marines, and a few officers, raised their weapons.

"Put 'em down," the colonel shouted. Todd had yet to make any threatening movements, and he didn't need a firefight on his bridge.

"Now we're gonna take this nice and slow," he said. "You first, marine, why'd you bring him here like this?"

"We found him messing with the gate drive," said the marine. "He'd pulled out at least a dozen control crystals."

"Alright," said John. "You say he was messing with the gate drive, fine. I can't think of a reason for you to lie, so how about it Todd, got an explanation?"

"If I wanted to I could have destroyed this ship a hundred times since we left Earth, John Sheppard," said the Wraith, not at all helping his case. "But as we are both still alive to discuss it, you may rest assured that I have yet to make an attempt. Your men 'caught' me working to undo the damage caused by the real saboteur."

"You saw this person?" asked Sheppard.

"I did, but they were wearing very dark clothing as well as a mask, and alas you humans often look quite alike to me," he replied. "Now if you'll excuse me, this morning's excitement has created a delay in my… _routine_."

The Wraith turned to leave and Sheppard signalled the marines to let him pass.

"By the way, Sheppard," he said just before the doors closed. "I believe the culprit has been using the ansible to contact Earth. Perhaps Dr. Evans could determine what information they have passed on."

The door to the bridge closed and Colonel Sheppard took the opportunity to speak privately to his officers.

"Alright," he said. "I know how some of you feel about Todd, and it may not be a comforting thought but he practically built this ship so it's probably true that if he wanted to unbuild it we'd be dead by now."

"The fact is he caught our saboteur in the act and that's bought us some time," continued Sheppard. "My guess is we're looking at a plant. Someone who's been with us since we left Earth. They managed to avoid detection this long so we're not likely to find them now, but with the whole crew performing sweeps they'll have to fall into line to avoid suspicion. If we want to catch this person we don't need to find him, we just need to figure out what his next move is going to be."

**~~00~~**

In his quarters Todd cursed the stupidity of his human crewmates. While they had detained him the real culprit had undoubtedly had time to cover his tracks. Were this vessel a Hive he would simply replace such defective drones as those marines. The thought of feeding on them was starting to overwhelm his higher functions and he reached for the black leaden box containing what he thought of as his anti-wraith serum. Green fluid was leaking through the seam where it opened, and when he looked inside he found the serum flowing free amid the crushed glass of all but one of the vials he had brought with him.

Eyes closed with her ears perpendicular to the ansible, Dr. Evans strained to hear the first of five unauthorized conversations Todd had left open on his tablet. Whoever had made the communications had gone to some effort to erase the recordings by pinpointing the locations where they were stored on the ansible's biogenic core and excising them with a scalpel, but they hadn't counted on the resiliency and regenerative capabilities of Wraith technology. Scabs had formed over the incisions and the core had done its best to replicate the audio files that were lost.

The most recent file was clear as day, because the saboteur had been in a rush to execute his new orders, but the first communication was a garbled, scratchy, ghost of its former self, just barely discernable over the static. She concentrated.

There are a little over two-hundred and fifty-thousand words in the english language give or take a few thousand neologisms or archaic expressions. Ancient has closer to two million, and the most primitive languages can have no more than a few hundred or even a few dozen, but what all languages have in common is that they are finite in nature. They have to be because they are made in the image of finite beings.

With that thought in mind Evans undertook the mind boggling task of whittling down that two-hundred and fifty-thousand to a single word.

"Three syllables, latin root, consonant heavy, first letter a, assignment," she said, then did it again.

"Three syllables, three vowels, four consonants, emphasis on first syllable, monitor. Four syllables, second syllable s or z, longest syllable fourth, probably a proper noun, Elizabeth."

The message was short and that was all the substance she could pull from it. She moved on to the next message which was much clearer. The saboteur had probably congratulated himself on how surgical this second cut had been not knowing how much easier to handle the core would find such a wound.

"Alpha, seven, four, eight, foxtrot, charlie, Weir, alpha, seven, four eight, foxtrot, charlie, Weir," the scratchy voice recited.

That one was easy. It was the code necessary to enter a new orientation into the gate drive following an extended amount of time at sublight speed, but it was three weeks out of date. It certainly hadn't been used to hurl the ship into that asteroid field, but now there was more.

"Echo, nine, three, four, delta, bravo, Weir, echo, nine, three four, delta, bravo, Weir."

That one was for accessing the cartography database. It was also out of date, but it meant that shortly after they had left Earth someone had been running around the ship with officer level clearances.

Lauren pulled up the cartography database on her computer and tried to find their present location. Despite the city sized boulders she knew were floating a few miles overhead and the white dwarf she had seen them orbiting with her own eyes the screen showed that they were in empty space several hundred million miles from anything. She set the computer down and radioed the Colonel with her discovery. The ship had no idea where it was and probably hadn't since they left the Milky Way.

**~~00~~**

Todd stalked the corridors of the Elizabeth clutching his last remaining vial of anti-Wraith serum in his still smooth palm. He felt agitated. It wasn't the dull human agitation he felt when a crewmate glared at him across the mess hall. This was the agitation of an apex predator whose prey has issued it a challenge. Someone on board had targeted him.

He was now two hours overdo for his daily dose of the serum and the psychological effects were beginning to take hold. He could feel his long repressed anger and thirst for power rising from the depths of his drug addled mind, and the hunger would not be far behind.

Luckily the physiological changes would take longer. It would be a week or two before his feeding pads reasserted themselves and if he was clever he could hide the loss of the serum for some time beyond that as well.

He tried to calculate how long it would take him to produce more of the serum with the resources available to him on the ship. Maybe three weeks to infuse a colony of bacteria with the proper genetic modifications. One week to cultivate enough of them for a dose. Another three days to harvest them and centrifuge out the necessary proteins.

It was doable, but there was no telling how the crew would react if they discovered his predicament before the work was complete. Sheppard would probably confine him and return him to Area 51 on Earth, but the way he had been received thus far there could just as easily be a mutiny and he could end up breathing his last breath out into space.

He reached an intersection and a trio of airmen nearly bowled him over as they rushed passed. Todd closed the fingers of his left hand around the vial and plucked the last man in the line up by the back of his vest with his right. The other airmen paused as their compatriot was turned bodily to face his captor.

"Where are you running little mammal?" he asked.

The well-built military man was not accustomed to being called "little," but he was also not accustomed to being dangled by the neck a few inches from the sharp teeth of a Wraith, so he let it pass.

"We are performing a sweep of this section for intruders," he said, and then added, "sir." None of the crew was ever sure exactly where Todd stood in the ship's hierarchy, but they often thought it was better to be safe than savory.

Todd set the man down and the three of them left even more quickly than they had come. The Wraith in him scoffed at the futility of their efforts. Whoever had attacked the _Elizabeth_ had also hidden among her crew for over a month. They couldn't hope to find him now unless they lured him or forced him out.

**~~00~~**

John Sheppard rubbed his temples. On Atlantis he had led people into battle against dozens of enemies known and unknown. His success in those engagements had been due in part to his knowledge of military tactics and his knack for predicting his opponent's moves, but the support of his team, from Rodney's boundless intellect to Ronon's fighting prowess to the leadership of his civilian commanders, had also played an undeniable role.

On the bridge of the _Elizabeth_ he was having trouble recreating that synergy with the officers he had available. When he had asked for theories on the motivation of the saboteur he had gotten a storm of ideas from Eli and Lauren, but the two of them had dismissed those of the other out of hand and both were now pursuing separate lines of inquiry that were getting them nowhere.

Dr. Evans had reported in a few minutes ago and informed them that the ship had been thrown wildly off course ever since leaving the Milky Way, but unlike Rodney who would have seen the new information as a clue to their opponent's plan she had simply sounded disturbed by the discovery and had gotten unintelligibly squeaky when Sheppard had asked her what it meant. Meanwhile his Navigation Officer Major Pyotr Ročenka had been incredulous, and insisted that she must have been mistaken and was endeavoring to prove that they really were where the ship's computer said they were.

He had to take control. To lead. These were the best and the brightest. They just needed… a conduit.

"Eli," he said. Eli turned from his monitor where he was scanning nearby planets for potentially hostile alien life of even vaguely humanoid shape.

"I don't want you to think about what I'm about to ask. Just answer the question. Who is most likely group on Earth to launch an attack on the _Elizabeth_?"

"The Lucian Alliance," said Eli, then looked surprised that he had said it.

"Why?" askep Sheppard.

"Because they wanted the _Destiny_ for its technology and now that the _Destiny_ is gone they've set their sights on us. They even kidnapped Greer because they thought he would know the gate address to get them here."

"Ročenka, if the Lucian Alliance wanted the _Elizabeth_ how could they take her without using the gate?"

The Navigation Officer tore himself away from the jump logs scrolling over his screen and turned around to face him.

"There is no way they could possibly overtake us. As far as we know there are no other ships in the universe that can travel as fast as the _Elizabeth_."

"Okay," said Sheppard. "Now imagine Dr. Evans is right about us being off course. If we've been going in circles we could be a lot closer to the Milky Way than we think."

The normally intransigent Chechen turned back around and wiped his screen of the logs and replaced them with star charts. He studied them briefly then said, "It's possible we're no more than twenty million light years from Earth.

"The Alliance would have to have hyperdrives comparable to our newest cruisers to make it out that far in the time we've been flying," said Major Burnette.

"Hang on, Lauren" said Sheppard. "If they were aware of our mission early enough to plant one of their people on the ship they could have sent a fleet out here months ago."

"But then where is it?" she replied.

"It's hiding," said Sheppard. "They don't want to deal us too much damage, but they know the feeling isn't mutual so they'll wait until their saboteur finds a way to assure them a quick and decisive victory."

"Then they'll go after the shield generator," said Lauren. "We should double the guard on them and buy ourselves enough time to repair the gate drive."

"I suppose then we would run from our attackers and await their next assault?" said Todd over Bailey Evan's radio. It was Bailey's, John thought. He could hear her squeaking in the background.

"Perhaps we should consider a more offensive strategy."

**~~00~~**

Two heavyset marines armed with P-90s and high caliber pistols, not to mention fists, stood at attention outside the locked door that led to the _Elizabeth's _shield generator. Their massive frames blocked most of it from view.

Across the hall a pair of eyes took occasional glances at them through the thin slats in the grating of the airflow duct. The mission was starting to look like a lost cause. She had made a point of scheduling the last jump while the Colonel was away from the bridge, but Major Burnette had reacted nearly as quickly as he would have and had managed to prevent the _Elizabeth_ taking the damage that would be necessary to commandeer her without a dogfight. Even before that the Wraith had caught her attempting to remove enough control crystals from the gate drive to strand them at the coordinates she had been given. Gods but that thing was hideous, and she had seen what the Goa'uld were like.

This was a serious problem. If she didn't deliver the _Elizabeth _soon there would be no point in returning to the Milky Way, and if the ship made the necessary repairs and fled it would only be a matter of time before they discovered her connection to the Alliance.

There was only one thing for it. She steadied herself against the back of the duct and prepared to drop the guards with her revolver. She had them lined up in her sights and was about to kick the grating out when they reached a hand up to their coms in unison. Then they suddenly moved off down the corridor and the way was clear.

Stepping out through the grate as quietly as possible, Airwoman Amelia Reynolds felt like she was in a dream. She crossed the hall to the door and entered the code she had received in the fourth of her secret communications with the Alliance. The door clicked open and she stepped inside.

She removed a panel from the shield generator and a tray of control crystals slid out. She worked quickly. The _Elizabeth's_ shield generator relied on the power output of two massive mark XI naquadah generators, but could also tap into reserves throughout the ship including the ZPMs in the gate drive. Amelia first isolated these alternate pathways and removed their crystals then searched for the two crystals that facilitated the primary power connection. Once she removed these the shields would fall and someone would come running. She would just have to hope she was faster.

She snatched at them like she was ripping off a bandaid then turned to go, but Todd had a hand around her neck before she could take a step.

**~~00~~**

Hidden in the asteroids around the _Elizabeth_, seventeen heavily modified Ha'tak watched as the _Elizabeth's_ shields dissipated. Then they rose up, encircling their apparently defenseless prey and charged.

**~~00~~**

Sheppard had always subscribed to the theory that the best defense was a good offense, and the _Elizabeth_ had an excellent offense, but the truth was that rail guns and drones were no substitute for a really good shield when the enemy was coming at you from all directions. He used the asteroids as best he could, and much of the alliance's fire was going toward melting the rocks around them. The _Elizabeth's_ speed and maneuverability were impressive, but hersublight engines were pushing a ship nearly three times the size of the pursuing Ha'tak. Time was not on her side.

"Todd! I could really do with those shields right about now," he said into his com. What was that damn Wraith doing now?

A vessel appeared on the _Elizabeth's_ starboard flank and Major Burnette vaporized it with a drone, but not before it took out two more rail gun emplacements. Sheppard turned hard to port to protect the now scarcely protected area of his ship just over the oxygen tanks. The move exposed a larger portion of the ship to their pursuers, but also exposed the pursuers to a heavy barrage from the gun emplacements there.

The gamble paid off as three Ha'tak exploded taking out a fourth that got caught in the erupting fireball. Sheppard banked around another asteroid before the remaining ships could return the favor.

Come on Todd, he thought, I can't keep this up forever.

**~~00~~**

"Why did you target me, rodent?" Todd asked the struggling Amelia. He was holding her by the neck a few feet above the ground, and he hoped the lack of air would make her think carefully about her response.

"Was… ordered too," said Amelia weakly.

Todd tightened his grip.

"Are you sure it wasn't because you wanted to see what a _real_ Wraith looked like?" he asked.

"Please… I'm sorry," she gasped.

"I could kill you now, but perhaps I could persuade Sheppard to let me keep you as a pet until I can properly feed," he said.

She was crying now, but whether it was out of pain or terror was difficult to tell.

Todd marveled at the feeling of power that flowed through him as he held her. In this moment he would decide her fate, in this moment he was as God to this sentient creature who could only beg his forgiveness. This was what it was to be a Wraith.

His reverie was abruptly cut off by the voice of John Sheppard in his ear.

"If you don't want to die you'll get those shields up now!" he said.

Todd glared at the woman in his grasp then threw her roughly against the wall where she collapsed in a heap. Then he set to work bringing the shields back online.

**~~00~~**

Sheppard was getting desperate. Fully half of the _Elizabeth's_ rail guns were down and engineering crews were having trouble keeping up with the breaches the Alliance was making in her hull. If he could find some cover, hide even for a minute, he could scramble enough F-304s to even the odds but there were still so many Ha'tak weaving through the asteroid field that he doubted he'd get the opportunity.

The enemy was getting wise to his predicament too. They no longer aimed for the ship's well-defended midsection, but instead came at him from the stern and bow where only drones and two rail gun emplacements could confront them. At the moment there were three Ha'tak on his tail and he was sure at any moment three more would appear in front of him.

He was wrong. From a crater in an egg shaped asteroid a few miles ahead six Ha'tak sprung an ambush and sent a wall of Goa'uld energy weapons fire right at his nose. The other asteroids in the vicinity left no room to maneuver and he braced for an impact that when it arrived was muted by the fortuitous return of the _Elizabeth's_ shields.

Sheppard spun the Elizabeth so the F-304 bays were facing open space and gave the order. The predatory bats flew from their bays and swallowed up the remaining Ha'tak fleet like mosquitos on the breeze.

**~~00~~**

"In my defense," said Major Ročenka. "If you're going to get lost space is the place to do it. I mean three billion light years off course might seem like a lot, but compared to the infinity of space it's like taking a wrong turn on your way to the mini-mart. You'll see, we'll get back on track and you'll forget this whole silly mess even happened."

Sheppard didn't say anything. His Navigation Officer had already apologized for not catching the erroneous data Airwoman Reynolds had been feeding the ship for weeks, and had assured him it wouldn't happen again, but he still thought the man should consider a career change. Maybe the ship's cook needed a bus boy.

On the other side of the bridge Eli and Todd were sitting in their respective officers chairs, though Todd wasn't officially an officer so his chair was officially just a chair.

"So what happened with the shield generator?" asked Eli. "We were almost a smear on a Ha'tak windshield."

"My apologies," said Todd. "Miss Reynolds was more difficult to… deal with than I imagined she would be."

"Er… right," said Eli. "So what happened to her again? You didn't uh…"

Eli flexed the fingers of his hand as though trying to exercise a cramp.

"I believe she was beamed aboard one of the Ha'tak vessels while our shields were still down," he said ignoring the odd hand gesture. "I left her lying unconscious behind me and when I turned around she was gone. A thorough sweep of the ship's airflow ducts turned up nothing."

"Well," said Eli. He wasn't sure what to say. Amelia Reynolds had been one of his crewmates. He had seen her everyday and even spoken to her a few times. It was hard to believe she was Alliance, but then again a lot of people you wouldn't expect turned out to be mixed up with them. He thought of Ginn.

"We've got some ground to make up gentlemen," said Sheppard arriving beside them. "It's been a rough ride so far and it turns out we've only made it to the end of the block. I sent Ročenka to get us some coffee so Eli, if you would be so kind as to enter the coordinates of our next jump I think we can be underway again."

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


	10. Of Epitaphs

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 10**

"**Of Epitaphs"**

General Samantha Carter walked out of her office into the conference room to see General Jack O'Neill waiting for her. It was still strange for her to see him getting older and fatter, after serving so many years under his command on SG-1. Back then he had been lean, fit, and attractive, and never compromised his health. An office job can turn even the most virile soldiers into heavier, slower versions of themselves.

Sam thought of Generals Hammond and Landry, who had also served as the heads of Stargate Command before her, and shook her head. She had made a promise to herself that just because she didn't go on missions anymore, she wouldn't let herself get soft. Frequent excursions with her husband Whitney helped with that.

"Sam," said Jack, holding out a hand in greeting.

"Jack," she responded warmly, pulling him in for a hug.

"Oh, thanks," he said, awkwardly patting her on the back. "How's the ol' husband?"

"You mean Whitney?" said Sam, pulling away from the embrace. "He's great. We went hiking through Arizona last month."

"Oh, yes, Arizona," said Jack, raising his eyebrows in mock interest. "I went there once, you know. It was … nice."

Sam smirked at Jack as the conference room door opened and SG-1 walked in. Cameron, Jessica, Greer, and Danesh took places around the table.

"General O'Neill, I'd like you to meet my new team," said Cameron. "Major Jessica Warren, Danesh of the Tokra, and I'm sure you've already met Major Greer."

O'Neill nodded at Greer, and smiled. "It's great to meet all of you, and I'm sure you'll do the Stargate Program proud," he said. "Now let's get to business, shall we?"

"I'm patching Sheppard through now," said Sam. She pushed a button on a round device in the center of the table, and a hologram of Colonel John Sheppard appeared in the empty seat next to her.

"Colonel Sheppard," said Jack. "It's nice to see you."

"Thank you, General," said John. He looked around at SG-1 and General Carter. "Looks like the whole gang showed up to say hi."

"How is everything going on the _Elizabeth?" _asked Sam.

"Well, as you know, we had a minor subterfuge problem," said John. "Everything is alright now, but it may take longer to get to the Genesis Address than we originally thought."

"Like I said in the message I sent you earlier, we called you for another reason," said Sam. "We've just completed construction on the second _Elizabeth-_class starship. Seeing as you are the only person to ever captain one, we would like your input before we send the _Charles Kawalsky _on her maiden voyage."

Jack cocked his head and looked at Sam. "I didn't know we were calling it that," he said.

"I think it's about time Major Kawalsky was properly recognized for his service," answered Sam.

Jack nodded. His eyes seemed to shift out of focus, as if he were lost in thought. Remembering his old friend stirred emotions he had long since hidden deep inside himself. Around him the briefing continued.

"The _Charles_, as we have been calling her, has been outfitted with a modified version of the gate drive," explained Jessica. "She doesn't have the range of the _Elizabeth, _but she should be able to reach any location within the Milky Way galaxy with one jump. Plus, the drive itself can be powered by a complement of large naquadah generators, rather than the six Zero Point Modules that the _Elizabeth_ requires."

"Wouldn't ZPMs be more efficient?" asked John.

"ZPMs are in short supply right now, John," said Sam. "Plus, if our test of the _Charles_ is successful, we plan on building a lot more of these ships. There is no way Atlantis could keep up with the demand."

"With lower power requirements, the _Charles_ should be able to make a series of jumps without stopping to recharge for more than a few minutes," said Jessica. "The ship was designed as a tactical weapon. We intend to create a fleet that can outmaneuver anything the Lucian Alliance can throw at us. The _Charles _is fast and tough, tougher than any ship we have encountered or built."

"We sure could have used one of these when we were facing the Ori," said Sam.

"Well, I've had the designs cleared by Eli and Todd," said John. "They say it should work, as long as the calculations are done correctly. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how easy it is to end up somewhere you didn't intend to be, especially when you are dealing with wormholes."

"Thanks John," said Cameron. "SG-1 will be accompanying a skeleton crew on the first test flight. We'll let you know how it goes. That is, if Major Warren's calculations don't send us to Narnia."

"Very funny, Colonel," said Jessica. "I won't make a mistake."

"Good luck," said John. He looked at O'Neill and nodded. "General."

John's image disappeared, leaving only an empty seat. Jack shook his head, willing his eyes back into focus. "Colonel," he said distractedly, though John was already gone. Had it really been sixteen years since Kawalsky died? Jack looked down at his hands, which showed his age now more than ever. Sixteen years…

**~~00~~**

Cameron and Greer walked into the bridge of the _Charles, _which was cloaked in high orbit above Earth. Colonel Shuan Quire stood up from the captain's chair.

"Colonel Mitchell, it is an honor to meet you," said Quire.

"The honor's all mine, Colonel Quire," said Cameron. "Quite a ship you've got here."

Quire smiled and looked around at the bridge. "I'm still in shock they are trusting me with a shiny new bird like this," he said.

"I'm sure you'll do her proud," said Cameron, putting a hand on Quire's shoulder. "Ready to get underway?"

"Yes, sir," said Quire, walking over to the command chair. He pushed a button, and a hologram of General Carter appeared before them.

"Colonel Quire," she said in greeting.

"General," he responded. "We're ready and eager to fly."

"You have the go-ahead," said Carter. "Good luck, and come home safe."

Carter disappeared, and Quire took his seat in the captain's chair.

Cameron put a hand to his ear.

"Everything set to go back there, ladies?" he asked.

**~~00~~**

"Major Warren is still working on her calculations," said Danesh.

"This isn't basic algebra," complained Jessica. "I'm almost finished."

Jessica stood in front of the gate drive holding a tablet in her hand and making last minute adjustments to their plotted course. The drive was almost identical to the one on the _Elizabeth_: it consisted of a titanium ring with one hundred and twenty-eight symbols around a dome which curved out from the bulkhead. The dome's purpose was to deflect the vortex generated by the ring out into space, where it would open a stable wormhole large enough for the entire ship to pass through. In front of the ring on either side were two trapezoidal pillars. On the _Elizabeth, _these pillars housed the six Zero Point Modules required to power the drive. Here on the _Charles, _the pillars were connected to huge naquadah generator casings which occupied large sections of the room on either side of the drive.

"Done," said Jessica. "We should be ready to go."

Danesh sighed. "We apologize for the delay, Colonels," she said. "Major Warren is very young, and not accustomed to responsibility."

Jessica shot her a look that could cut through diamond.

"Better buckle up," came Cameron's voice. "I hear this can be a little jarring."

Danesh and Jessica moved to seats against the wall on one side of the room and strapped in. Jessica watched as nine symbols lit up on the ring of the gate drive, and the naquadah generators hummed with effort. Suddenly the entire ring lit up with blue light, and with a roaring sound the light was deflected off the dome. From a profile view, it appeared as though the entire room was suddenly underwater, and the force of the vortex rebounding off the dome distorted the air like a strong current emanating from the ring and heading toward the front of the ship. After a moment the room was silent and the air was still. By now the event horizon had formed several hundred meters in front of the _Charles._

The sublight engines of the _Charles _fired with a dull hum and the ship entered the wormhole. Jessica looked to her left where Danesh was sitting, only to see her sitting at once two feet and a hundred feet away. Her vision blurred and she felt nauseous. Willing her eyes to focus, Jessica turned her attention to the gate drive, when suddenly she felt a jolt as she was ripped in a direction she didn't know existed. For either no time at all or an eternity, she felt herself floating in a space with no dimension and no points of reference.

The _Charles _re-entered real space on the other side of the wormhole. Unbuckling her restraints, Jessica ran to the corner and heaved heavily, though her stomach had nothing in it to eject.

"Everything alright back there?" came Cameron's voice over the radio.

"I'm not sure," said Jessica, regaining her composure.

"The gate drive seems to be intact," said Danesh, who was already inspecting the titanium ring.

"Something is wrong," said Cameron. "I need you both on the bridge."

**~~00~~**

"We were supposed to jump to the alpha site," said Quire.

Jessica pushed a button on the console in front of her, bringing up a holographic star map. Cameron, Greer, and Danesh stood watching.

"The coordinates are correct," she said. "We are where the alpha site is supposed to be."

Through the viewport on the bridge, the team could see large rocks and bits of debris floating past the window.

"Looks like something happened to the place," said Cameron, stepping closer to the window.

"This didn't happen recently," said Danesh, turning to look at Jessica. "If there was a planet here, it was destroyed long ago. The coordinates must be wrong. Someone made a mathematical error."

"We just spoke to the commanding officer at the alpha site before the jump," said Greer.

"Contact Homeworld," ordered Quire, sitting in the captain's chair.

"I'm not getting a signal," said the communications officer. "The ansible is reporting no viable connection Earthside."

"Where the hell are we?" asked Cameron.

"Wait!" said Jessica, still looking at the star map. She zoomed out and highlighted the ship's path. "Watch this."

A dot representing the _Charles _appeared next to Earth, vanished, and then appeared at their current coordinates. Quire looked over at Jessica, puzzled.

"What am I supposed to be looking at, Major?" he asked.

"I'll play it again," she said, resetting the footage and pointing to a bright yellow dot halfway between Earth and the alpha site. "Pay attention to this star."

Just as the dot representing the _Charles _disappeared, the star she pointed out flickered.

"A solar flare," confirmed Danesh.

"Exactly," said Jessica. "The wormhole we opened crossed a solar flare as we entered it, so we were sent off course."

"So where did we end up?" asked Cameron.

"We ended up exactly where we wanted to be," explained Jessica. "We just got here 200 years too late."

"Welcome to Narnia, Colonel," said Greer.

**~~00~~**

Jessica paced back and forth in front of the gate drive. Holographic windows open around her showed star charts and complicated equations. She was muttering to herself when Greer walked in.

"Everything alright in here, Major?" he asked, looking around at her charts.

"Colonel Mitchell wants us to go through the stargate back to Earth, to see what happened," he said. "Are you coming?"

"No, I've got to figure out how to reverse the process," she said. Then she stopped pacing and looked at Greer. "Did you say stargate?"

"Yes…" said Greer. "Is that a problem?"

"It's just that sometimes I forget the gate drive isn't the only device on board capable of creating a stable wormhole," she said, bringing up yet another holographic window.

Greer raised an eyebrow at her. "Is there anything I can—"

"Shush," interrupted Jessica. "Go away now; I have math to do."

**~~00~~**

The gate room was clean and sterile. There were three large doors at the front end of the room, each designed to function as an airlock in case of emergency. The entire room was a module which could be ejected from the _Charles_ at a moment's notice. The stargate was conceivably a weak point on the ship; given the _Charles' _coordinates and an override code for the gate shield, an enemy combatant could use the stargate as an entry point for a hostile takeover. Thus, the room was ejectable.

In the center of the room the ring of the gate spun, dialing the address for Stargate Command. The event horizon burst forth and then settled back into the ring, casting a blue shimmering light into the room and over SG-1. Danesh held up a small metal orb, which hovered above her hand and then flew into the open wormhole. The device was similar to the kino devices Eli Wallace had discovered on the _Destiny, _except that this version was re-designed to be compatible with standard stargate team equipment.

"The kino has arrived in Stargate Command," she said, holding the tablet in her hands for Cameron and Greer to see. The video feed from the kino appeared on the screen.

"Atmosphere levels are good," she said. "No human life signs detected."

"That's not Stargate Command," said Cameron, looking at the screen. The kino was displaying a view of a city block that looked like it had been abandoned long ago. Nature had long since reclaimed the buildings, which were in varying states of decay. "What is that, Danesh?"

"That's Boston," said Greer.

"Boston has seen better days," said Cameron. "Alright, let's move out, see what we can find."

**~~00~~**

Cameron, Greer, and Danesh stepped through the stargate and into what remained of Boston. Turning around to face the gate, Cameron saw that not only were they not in Stargate Command, but this gate wasn't the gate that was kept at Stargate Command. It wasn't even Ancient in design.

"This looks alien," said Greer.

"Most of the technology your people now possess is alien," said Danesh. "This could very well be a future version of the Stargate built by humans."

"No, that's not it," said Cameron, stepping up to the gate as it shut down. "This looks like the gates they had on Tollana."

Danesh cocked her head. "You had not yet joined SG-1 when the team visited Tollana," she said.

"Doesn't mean I didn't see pictures," said Cameron. "It took us years to replicate gate technology. The Tollan were far more advanced technologically when we first met them, but they went Vulcan on us and refused to share. It was kind of a big deal around Stargate Command."

"And you think this is a Tollan gate?" asked Greer.

"It sure looks like it," affirmed Cameron.

"Then what happened to the original gate?" asked Danesh.

"Whatever it was, it looks like it happened to the whole planet," said Cameron. "Let's see if we can find anything."

**~~00~~**

They had walked ten blocks when Greer spotted it. A huge monolithic structure covering a fifteen block area, as if it had been simply set down on top of the existing structures. It was grey and windowless.

"What in the hell…" said Greer.

"Danesh, can you get the kino up in the air?" asked Cameron.

Danesh nodded, and used the controls on her tablet to send the kino high in the air above the city. When it was high enough, the screen showed a bird's eye view of the entire city. Gigantic non-descript structures like the one in front of them dotted the city. While the original buildings of Boston had broken down against time and nature, the monoliths stood undamaged.

"It appears as though the city was invaded by a hostile force," said Danesh.

"You think?" said Greer.

**~~00~~**

"I found a door!" Cameron called. The team had made their way to the first alien structure and searched for a way in.

Greer and Danesh walked to where Cameron was standing. He hacked away the vines that covered the doorway, and pulled the door open.

"Remind me, Colonel, why we are exploring this building?" asked Danesh.

"To find out what's inside," said Cameron, shining a light into the room beyond.

"This is not our time," said Danesh. "Whatever we find here is inconsequential."

"Clearly something very bad is going to happen here," said Cameron, "and I'd like to know what it is, or will be."

Danesh and Greer followed Cameron into the building. The door opened into a long white hallway with a tall ceiling and doors lining both walls.

"Simply by visiting the future and returning to our time, we will have changed the course of events that led to whatever happened here," said Danesh. "No one can know the future."

"You're assuming that we're ever going to get back to our time," said Cameron, as they walked further down the hallway. All the doors were closed.

"If we do not return, we only have Major Warren to blame," said Danesh. "It was her faulty calculations that sent us here in the first place."

"Hey now," said Greer. "Jessica knows what she's doing. She couldn't have predicted a freak solar flare."

"Precisely," said Danesh. "She could not, because she lacks the abilities required of her position."

"Simmer down back there," said Cameron. He walked to one of the doors along the hallway. As he reached for it, the door hissed and slid sideways into the wall. Cameron brought his P90 and the flashlight attached to it up toward the doorway, shining a light into the room beyond. He stepped inside, followed by Danesh. Greer brought up the rear.

The room they stepped into was small and made of metal. In the center of the room was an operating table. Along the walls were sleek metal cabinets. Greer opened a door on one of the cabinets to find it full of medical utensils, syringes, and vials of liquid he could not identify.

"Colonel, I've got a bad feeling about this…" he said.

"This looks like a medical facility," said Cameron. "Danesh, is the kino picking anything up?"

Danesh looked at her tablet, which showed the nightvision view of the kino, still out in the hallway.

"Nothing, Colonel," she said. "Wait… the kino is picking up faint lifesigns in another room."

"Let's go," said Cameron. They walked out of the room and back into the hallway. The kino was flashing in front of a door on the opposite wall.

"The life signs are coming from behind that door," said Danesh.

Cameron stepped up to the door, which opened for him. He shined his light into the room and stepped through.

"Damn…" he muttered, as his flashlight revealed rows of stasis tubes. Naked men and women hung suspended in tubes of liquid. There were hoses coming out of their orifices and leading down to the base of the tubes. "Turns out the Matrix is real."

"What is the Matrix?" asked Danesh.

Cameron slowly walked along a row of tubes, until he came to a shattered one. All the liquid had drained out and there was no occupant. The tubes lay sprawled out onto the ground.

"There is someone else awake in here," said Danesh. "Stay still."

She watched on her tablet as a fourth dot moved toward the three dots representing her, Colonel Mitchell, and Major Greer. "It's coming this way."

Cameron raised his P90 to the end of the row. The beam of light fell on a naked man crouched by a tube. The man had detached a hose from the tube and was sucking on it. He stopped what he was doing and turned toward the light.

"Grrrr…." growled the naked man, before sprinting towards Cameron.

"Run!" he shouted, firing a warning shot above the man's head and stepping backward. Cameron, Greer, and Danesh turned around and ran for the doorway. Back in the hallway, they started running for the door they came in at, only to see their way blocked by several more naked people, who began barking and growling nonsensically before running toward SG-1. Danesh raised her P90 and began firing.

"What the hell are you doing, Danesh?" shouted Cameron. "These are human beings!"

"As I told you, Colonel, this timeline is of no consequence," she said, continuing to fire. "As soon as we return to our time, this future will no longer exist."

"She's got a point," said Greer, bringing up his own P90 and firing at the oncoming savage humans.

They reached the front door, stepping over the dead bodies of the people they had mowed down. Cameron was the last out the door, and he slammed it shut behind him just before another feral man caught up to him.

Danesh looked down at her tablet.

"The kino is still inside," she said, turning the screen so Cameron and Greer could see. Inside, a few remaining men and women scratched at the door, while others wandered around, moaning.

"They're zombies," said Greer.

"Unlikely," said Danesh. "They were clearly experimented on, however. Whoever was running this laboratory was using stasis pods to preserve their subjects, and then left the pods running when they abandoned the planet."

"Are we sure they aren't still here?" asked Cameron.

Danesh looked out at the city. From here she could see several more of the alien laboratories.

"I don't think so," she said. "I would guess that whoever built these buildings hasn't been here for quite some time."

"I've seen enough," said Cameron. "Let's get back to the gate."

**~~00~~**

Jessica walked into the gate room as the rest of the team walked through the gate. She looked up from her tablet for a moment to acknowledge their arrival.

"Major Warren!" said Cameron. "You missed our big adventure."

"Yeah, yeah," she said. "Come with me; I figured out how to get us home."

**~~00~~**

On the bridge, Jessica pulled up a starmap while Cameron, Greer, Danesh, and Colonel Quire watched.

"In every recorded case of a solar flare sending an SG team through time, they found a way home by waiting for another solar flare of the exact properties necessary to happen again, and timing a wormhole to intersect it, sending them back to their original time," she explained, highlighting the path of a wormhole on the star map, and where a solar flare crossed it.

"It is nothing short of miraculous that any team ever got home this way," she said. "The chances of finding the right solar flare and finding a wormhole connection that can utilize it are slim to none."

"Why are you telling us all this, Major?" asked Quire.

"Because," Jessica smirked, "we don't have to wait for the perfect opportunity. We can create it."

She brought up a schematic of the _Charles_.

"Every _Elizabeth-_class ship has two devices capable of creating a stable wormhole," she explained. "The first is the gate drive, located here," she said, pointing to a compartment near the rear of the ship.

"The second is the stargate, here," she said, pointing to another compartment closer to the bridge.

"In theory, a wormhole could be opened using the gate drive that opens on the other end at the ship's stargate," she said.

"Why the hell would we do that?" asked Cameron. "It would tear the ship apart."

"We don't," said Jessica. "The gate drive will dial the ship's stargate, but we will just buffer the pattern the stargate receives, and send it right back to the gate drive. That way, when the ship goes through the open wormhole, it will come back out in exactly the same place. We won't have moved in space at all."

Jessica beamed proudly. Cameron stared at her.

"I guess I don't follow," he said.

"Oh!" she said. "I forgot the most important part. We have to fly the _Charles _next to a sun and fire at it to cause a solar flare. I've already done all the math; if we position the ship correctly and fire with the exact required amount of power, when we enter the wormhole a solar flare will hit the ship and send us back in time 200 years."

"That's it?" asked Cameron.

"Almost," said Jessica. "We're going to have to do all of it with the ship's shields turned off. The solar flare needs to intercept the wormhole, which exists between the gate drive and the stargate. If the shields are on, they will just deflect the flare, and we won't go anywhen."

She looked over at Quire.

"Sorry Captain," she said.

**~~00~~**

Jessica and Danesh stood in the gate drive room. Jessica made a final adjustment and then looked up at the titanium ring.

"We're ready to go back here, Colonels," she said.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" asked Cameron over the radio.

"Yes," she said, "but the timing has to be perfect, or else the solar flare will rip the ship in half. We are going to be taking some pretty heavy damage no matter what, but as long as we do this right, the _Charles_ will make it out alive."

"Alright," said Cameron. "Strap in, ladies."

Jessica and Danesh walked over the seats on the side of the room and strapped in. Danesh looked at Jessica, and then fixed her gaze on the gate drive, preparing for the jump. Nine symbols lit up on the ring of the drive, and then the entire ring lit up, sending a burst of energy toward the front of the ship.

Jessica heard the sublight engines come on and gripped the restraints holding her to her seat. The ship moved forward, and Jessica shut her eyes tight in an attempt to avoid the nausea she felt the first time. She could hear the solar flare rocking the ship and tearing at the hull before it entered the wormhole. Once again, she felt herself ripped from space into a dimensionless void. She wanted to vomit but found that she had no mouth to vomit with. All she could remember was feeling sick; there was never a time when she didn't exist as a feeling of uneasiness.

Jessica snapped back into awareness as the _Charles _re-materialized on the other side of the wormhole. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes.

"Everything alright back there?" came Cameron's voice over the radio.

Unbuckling herself and standing up, Jessica made her way over to the gate drive and pulled up a holographic window displaying the data the ship recorded during the jump.

"It worked, Colonel," she said. "We made it back."

"We are getting reports that the hull of the ship took heavy damage from the flare," came Quire's voice. "Getting ripped through time like this wasn't easy on her. Please don't ever make me do that to my ship again."

"I'll do my best," said Jessica.

"We're going to need a tow back to the alpha site for repairs before she can fly again, but we survived," Quire continued. "Good work, Major."

Jessica looked over at Danesh, who had joined her by the drive. Danesh allowed herself a polite smile and a shallow bow before quietly walking out of the room. Jessica smirked, and then turned back to the holographic display.

"Score one for Major Warren," she said to herself, smiling.

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


	11. Remnants and Reminders

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 11**

"**Remnants and Reminders"**

On his balcony overlooking the ocean, Major Miles Romanoff sat in a folding chair and sipped his morning coffee. His shift would start soon so the high strung military man was readying himself for another stress filled day on Atlantis with a private pleasure he had so far managed to keep hidden from the rest of the world. It was called Lenin, and it was a small white rabbit.

He scratched its nose and fed it another carrot while he memorized the recipe for something called "Blasted Bran Bars" from a discarded edition of _The Morning Herald_.

Just as he was getting to the part about how to caramelize the edges of the bars a dark shadow fell across the balcony obscuring his view. Miles removed his sunglasses and looked up to see a hive ship decloaking over the city.

**~~00~~**

**Elsewhere**

The planet hovering below the _Thor_ was the color of ice. It was appropriate given what was happening on the surface.

Maya Sol sat on one half of her command chair and attempted to project an air of authority. This was made difficult by her brother Tom Sol who was currently occupying the other half.

"You know, you could monitor the mission from tactical," she said.

"Me? The captain?" he said, shocked.

"Co-captain," Maya corrected him. "Temporary co-captain."

"Well as co-captain I think I ought to be here in case I'm needed," he said. "Don't you think so, mèimei?"

"I wish you wouldn't call me that in front of my crew."

"They are my crew as well," he said. "I bet it does them good to see their captains getting along so-"

"Colonel," said Major Shen.

The Sol siblings looked up in unison and saw the fireball erupt from the planet's surface. Maya looked to Major Shen and there was an unspoken conversation between them. The team had not called for beam out.

"We've got a message coming in from the _Jotunn_," said Tom. "I'm bringing it up now."

The _Thor's_ viewscreen flashed and Teyla Emmagan appeared standing on the bridge of the Vanir starship with the rest of her team standing behind her. Kalel, the Vanir they had rescued two weeks prior on the site of an Ancient shipyard turned slave camp, sat beside her, his battered useless legs hidden beneath a bank of controls. Maya heaved a sigh of relief.

"We did not mean to frighten you colonel," said Teyla. "The situation on the planet got a little out of hand so we took the first exit we could find."

"They had light sabers," said McKay panting. "Actual light sabers."

"And how did the mission go?" asked Maya.

"It went extremely well, Colonel Sol," said Kalel. "Your team returned seventeen of my brethren to the ship before they were forced to detonate the Mark IX and retreat. My readings suggest that the compound has been completely destroyed."

"We can see that," said the other Sol. "And how many Vanir were still on the planet when the bomb went off?"

"Two hundred and fifty-seven," said Kalel. "Their consciousnesses have been uploaded to the _Jotunn's_ computer. It is fortunate the Wraith do not know enough about our physiological history to remove our neurotropic implants."

"Then... that's it," said Maya. "If our intel is correct we've destroyed every one of the Wraith's hybrid laboratories so... what will you do now?"

"There is nothing left for us here. Our outposts and cloning facilities have all been either abandoned for millennia or destroyed by the Wraith. This vessel and those aboard it are all that remains of our civilization. My people will use it to find a new galaxy to inhabit and begin again; we discovered many with habitable planets before parting with the Asgard and coming here so many years ago. This ship was not built for intergalactic travel, but it will suffice. It has some cloning capabilities and I am sure my brothers will endeavor to revive as many of us as they can during the long voyage," he said.

"Aren't you going with them?" asked Maya.

"I would," said Kalel. "Only there is a problem."

He reached a hand up to the implant on his forehead.

"During my captivity I was struck a blow to the temple which destroyed the inner workings of my own implant," he said. "The damage, I'm afraid, is irreparable. I have lost the luxury of the timeless existence my brothers enjoy and can be of only limited use to them as they attempt to rebuild over the centuries to come," he said. "I hoped instead to join you in defending Atlantis and the humans of this galaxy from the Wraith."

This he addressed to Teyla who was suitably stunned.

"But wouldn't you rather spend what time you have left with your own people?" she asked. "Maybe they could find a way to help."

"The thought has occurred to me," said Kalel. "But in these past weeks the specter of my mortality has imbued my thoughts with a clearness of focus I have no desire to relinquish. Death has made me aware of those things I would see done, debts I would see paid, before my time is ended."

**~~00~~**

Kalel beamed aboard the _Thor_ from the _Jotunn_ and watched his brothers leave on their long journey before turning in his wheelchair and proffering an orb slightly larger than his head to Daniel.

"The Asgard trusted you with a great deal of power," he said. "And so I will trust you with this."

"What is it?" asked Daniel.

"It is an Attero device," said the Vanir.

There was silence on the bridge.

"I'm sorry," said Daniel. "I think I must have heard you wrong."

"Our best chance of eliminating the Wraith lies in reactivating the Attero device. The Wraith are a menace to the other forms of sentient life in this galaxy and they must be expunged."

"Oh well so say we all," said Rodney. "It's just that you keep using that word."

"Two words actually," said Daniel. "Attero device? Maybe you don't remember, but the last time it was activated a lot of humans ended up dying. You can't possibly expect us to use it again."

"Yeah and if I recall correctly we destroyed it," said Rodney.

"Well Sheppard was the one who destroyed it," said Daniel. "But we helped at least."

"Well I did anyway," said Rodney.

"You destroyed it, yes," said Kalel, "And we had nearly finished rebuilding it when we were discovered by the Wraith."

"Wait you built another one?" asked Daniel.

"Yes of course," said Kalel sounding surprised. "The Attero device was the only weapon ever created with the potential to annihilate the Wraith, and our people were facing extinction at their hands. Did you believe we would stop pursuing the technology merely because the original was destroyed?"

"Er… when you put it like that–"

"Are you perhaps shocked at our audacity? That we would dare to make enemies of you by engaging in a strategy that endangered the lives of your people much the way that your actions endangered our own."

"I mean… that's not–"

Did you think it was impossible to reach beyond what the Ancients were capable of in the prime of their power? That such heights were unattainable?

"Oh sure if you say it like that–"

"Or perhaps you believed the Vanir in particular were incapable of replicating the technology of the Ancients? That humanity was the sole sentient race with the faculties necessary to comprehend them?"

"Ok I get it," said Daniel. "The Ancients aren't gods and neither are we. The things they built and did were remarkable, but obviously not impossible to build and do. I'm sorry I doubted you, but well for one thing it seems a little convenient that you just have this lying around."

"Convenient?" probed the Vanir. "You would not believe that were true if you knew how many of us were killed or fed upon while defending it."

Daniel sighed.

"Listen Kalel there's no question that the Attero device is a powerful weapon, but there's a reason we were so against you using it the first time. There are a lot of inhabited worlds in this galaxy that regularly use the Stargate network. If even one of those gates is activated while this thing is online the death toll could be enormous."

"I believe there is a way we can mitigate that risk," said Kalel. "With proper shielding the subspace disruptions this machine produces can be focused on specific areas of space slightly less than two hundred thousand kilometers across. Combining that functionality with the long range sensors on Atlantis as an aiming mechanism would provide us with a potent weapon."

"I think I should stop you right there Kalel," said Rodney. "Now not to play the blame game or anything, but ever since the Wraith got a hold of your cloaking technology we haven't been able to use the long range sensors to locate them."

"I see," said Kalel. "Perhaps if you had permitted us to use the original Attero device we would not be in this situation."

"Why you little–"

"Okay," said Teyla. "This has been an emotional day, and I think we are all very tired. For now I believe we should return to Atlantis, and speak no more about this until we have all had a chance to rest."

**~~00~~**

The battle was over before it began. When the _Thor_ came out of hyperspace over Atlantis it did so into a hail of energy weapons fire from not less than two dozen Wraith hive ships. The Shields buckled and the blasts sent power surges up the ship's armor plating. After that the ship's weapons were lost, followed quickly by navigation. Colonel Maya Sol weaved desperately in and out of the enemy ships, but there was nowhere to hide.

Major Shen redirected what power the ship had left to the transporters and evacuated as many of her crew members to Atlantis as she could before Colonel Tom Sol turned the transporters on her, and suddenly a small Scottish doctor was pressing a wad of gauze to her forehead. What she had thought was sweat pouring over her eyes was actually blood pouring out around a chunk of shrapnel.

Back on the _Thor_ only two people remained. Weapons were still offline, but the Sol siblings made do with what they had. Maya moved deliberately between hives, forcing them to direct their fire at one another then Tom used maneuvering thrusters to violently jerk them away. Together they took out two, four, six ships with no shields or weapons of their own to speak of, but it couldn't last forever.

"It's time you got out of here Tom," said Maya dreamily as a lucky shot from a dart took out their starboard thruster. "You're not doing me any good anymore."

"And what about you mèimei?" Tom asked.

"I'm the captain of this ship brother," she said.

"Co-captain," said Tom.

**~~00~~**

**100 years later**

It took a century for the last remnants of the Vanir to complete their trek from Pegasus back to their ancestral home world in the Coranan Galaxy. Before cutting ties completely with their brothers in the Ida galaxy only one hundred and fifty thousand light years off, the wayward tribe of the Asgard had settled here and presided over one of the greatest expansions of a sentient power the universe had ever known.

Now they returned to the place of their former glory a little over four hundred strong and only half of them with bodies, an endangered species if ever there was one. However, they had spent their time in hibernation aboard the _Jotunn_ well. Taking turns inhabiting the relatively few bodies their frail vessel could support they had planned the rise of their new civilization well, and devised new ways of recombining what DNA was left in their vanishing genetic pool to bring new Vanir into the universe. Their long hibernation had supplied them with all the tools they would need to effect the rebirth of their species.

The blue-green orb of Vanheim sparkled beneath the solar wind-scarred bow of the _Jotunn_.

"It is much as we had hoped," said Freyja. "My readings indicate that the planet remains habitable. The atmosphere is saturated with moisture and well within breathable tolerances."

"Are there any life signs?" asked Njoror.

The ability to convey much in the way of meaning with facial expressions was one of many things the Vanir and the Asgard lost after adopting the cloning process that granted them their longevity, but Freyja narrowed his eyes and allowed a slight purse to form on his lips in imitation of surprise.

"The high percentage of methane and oxygen gas does suggest the presence of flora at least," he said. "Is that what you are referring to?"

Njoror did not respond. Like all the Vanir left on the ship his consciousness stretched back to a time when his people had been able to reproduce sexually. At times he even believed he could recall the ancient features of his parents and the lithe yet powerful form of his original body, but there was a limit to what a sentient creature could hope to remember over a lifetime of ten thousand years. What was it he was forgetting?

"Why did we leave this galaxy?" he asked.

Freyja closed his eyes and looked away. The movement was quick for a Vanir, and Njoror thought he could detect a hint of worry in his voice.

"I do not know," he said. "This ship does not carry with it a full history of our people."

"Then you have already attempted to find the answer," said Njoror. "Why?"

Freyja closed his eyes again as if trying to remember.

"Our departure was… sudden," he said. "I do not recall discussing where we would go until after we had abandoned our cities. It was as if–"

"As if we were forced to leave," finished Njoror.

The two of them turned to stare at the planet in silence. On its surface the ruins of an abandoned civilization towered over the landscape. The cities of the Vanir were built to last, and had weathered everything the planet had thrown at them, but here and there a few of the golden spires had been crushed into the dirt by enormous gray monoliths that seemed to have fallen from the sky.

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


	12. Toward Insanity

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 12**

"**Toward Insanity"**

The traditional Kelownan game Seirá involves placing colored stones on a grid in an attempt to create a row of the same color, while your opponent does the same. Dr. Bailey Evans had spent some time on Langara among the Kelownans, and had picked up the game over occasional meetings with Jonas Quinn to discuss her translation work on the ruins left behind by the Goa'uld Thanos. When she finished her research and returned to Earth to work under the tutelage of Dr. Daniel Jackson, Jonas gave her the parting gift of a hand-carved Seirá set.

Sitting in the cafeteria of the _Elizabeth_, Bailey carefully placed the small wooden board on the table and slid a shallow tray out from the side, revealing a collection of flat colored stones. She looked up as Eli Wallace dropped heavily into the seat across from her. He was dripping sweat, and his t-shirt stuck to his chest. Bailey reached into her bag and retrieved a bottle of hand sanitizer, offering it to Eli.

"Still training with Colonel Sheppard?" she asked.

"Why, am I sweating?" responded Eli, smirking.

"With all this exercise you've been getting, I worry your gaming skills will begin to deteriorate," said Bailey. She allowed her eyes to wander from Eli's face for a moment; since she had first met him, the man had lost some weight and developed some muscle tone. It was not a change she minded.

"I may not be playing _World of Warcraft _anymore, but I can still outsmart you," said Eli, taking a stone from the tray and placing it on the board.

"Whatever you say, Mr. Dropout," Bailey retorted, placing a stone of her own on the board.

"Never gonna let that go, are you?" said Eli.

"Speaking as someone who worked hard for their degrees," said Bailey, "I'd say the chances are pretty low."

Eli studied the board, considering where to place his next stone. A thought occurred to him, and he leaned in across the table.

"Have you noticed anything … different about Todd lately?" he asked conspiratorially.

"You mean besides his usual 'life force draining alien' creepiness?" asked Bailey, raising an eyebrow.

Making a decision, Eli placed his next stone on the table and then looked up at Bailey. "Yeah," he said. "Besides that."

"I think the whole sabotage situation really rattled him," said Bailey, seeing an opportunity on the board and placing another stone.

"I don't know," said Eli. "I've never met another Wraith, but he seems really angry."

Eli took his turn, putting a stone down that blocked Bailey's partial row. He had been playing Seirá every day with Bailey for the last week. Normally he was very good at games like this, but Eli had yet to beat Bailey, who had been playing the game for years. They played the next few turns in silent concentration.

While he was deciding where to place a piece, he noticed something carved into the edge of the board closest to him. It was a message that read "Help, stuck in your brain - Ginn." How the hell did that get—

"He has that serum Dr. Beckett invented to keep his Wraith requirement to feed suppressed," said Bailey. "I wouldn't worry about it too much. You know, if you can get past the bit about eating people I think he's kind of sweet."

"What?" said Eli, snapping back into focus. He looked back down at the edge of the board, but the message was gone. He absentmindedly placed the stone in his hand on the field. "Yeah, you're probably right."

Bailey smiled and put a stone down triumphantly, completing a row. "Seirá!" she proclaimed. "Gotcha again, gamer boy!"

"Great," said Eli, standing up. "Listen, I've gotta go. I'll see you later."

Bailey watched him walk off, already lost in the personal world inside his head. He left the cafeteria in a hurry, leaving Bailey Evans sitting alone with her game board.

"Seeya later, Eli," she said quietly to herself.

**~~00~~**

It had been nearly a week since the Lucian Alliance saboteur had been discovered, and the _Elizabeth _had been forced to fend off a fleet of modified Ha'tak vessels. The damage to the ship wasn't major enough to warrant the return trip to Earth, so Colonel Sheppard had decided to get the ship back on course. The _Elizabeth_ hadjust passed the furthest point the _Destiny _had travelled — also the place where Eli and Ronald Greer had watched solar flares tear the ship apart — and for the first time the crew was in entirely unknown territory.

As Eli walked down a corridor toward the medical bay, he passed a viewport. If he had been paying attention, he would have seen an entirely different set of stars than anyone from Earth had ever seen before. The _Elizabeth _was resting in the middle of empty space while the gate drive recharged. It had been nearly eighteen hours since the last gate jump. Because some of the damage was still being repaired, Sheppard was insisting on twenty-hour breaks in between jumps. They weren't in a hurry, after all. No one even knew what they were flying towards.

He walked into the medical bay, where a lab technician was working. Without saying hello, Eli walked up to the fMRI machine and started entering commands into the console. The technician stopped what he was doing and stepped over.

"Do you need a doctor?" he asked.

"Why would I need a doctor?" asked Eli without looking at the man. "Do you know how to use this machine?"

"Well, yeah, but I would need authorization from the doctor…" said the technician hesitantly.

"It's not hard," said Eli, laying down on the bench of the machine. "Just push the button."

The technician watched as the bench Eli was laying on slid back into the machine until his head was in place for the imaging process. He raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" came Eli's voice from inside the fMRI.

"I'm going to get Dr. Whaile," said the technician.

"Get Colonel Sheppard while you're at it, so you can tell him why you refused to comply with a senior officer's orders!" yelled Eli impatiently. "My name is Eli Wallace, you can run my ID if you want."

"Sorry, sir, I didn't realize," said the technician, straightening up. "Starting the scan now."

He looked at the console to see that Eli had already entered the parameters. All he had to do was start the sequence. As images of Eli's brain began to appear on the screen, the technician did a double take; the scan showed more than double the brain activity than the average scan of a conscious adult should show, even during unusually high stimulation. Certain that there was an error in the data, the technician ran a background diagnostic program, but the machine appeared to be functioning perfectly.

As the scan finished, the bench slid forward and Eli sat up.

"Anything weird?" he asked.

"Well, your brain activity is-"

"Yeah, thanks," said Eli, standing up and pushing the man out of the way. He sent the data to his private lab and then deleted all records of it from the system using his officer's clearance.

"Hey, you can't just-" started the technician. "You know what, nevermind. Do whatever you want."

"Thanks for your help," said Eli, before walking out of the medical bay as quickly as he came in.

**~~00~~**

"Dr. Evans!" said Colonel Sheppard jovially, as Bailey walked onto the bridge, staring at her feet. "Just the doctor I needed to see."

"Oh?" she asked, looking up at him. "What is it?"

"Major Burnette, will you please show the doctor what you found?" said Sheppard, turning in the airman's direction.

"Yes, sir," said Lauren Burnette, entering a command into the console she was sitting at, and bringing up a holographic window with strange symbols displayed on it.

"That looks like Ancient," said Bailey. "But we are way further from the Milky Way than we thought the Ancients ever went."

"We picked up a distress call about half an hour ago," said Burnette. "At first we thought it was Ancient, but Colonel Sheppard and Major Ročenka both read Ancient, and they couldn't understand a word."

"We sent a return signal, but there hasn't been a response," Burnette continued.

"It's too far away for _Elizabeth_ to check for lifesigns, but I don't want to go rushing in to see for ourselves until we know what the message says," said Sheppard.

Bailey stood, staring at the strange text, her lips silently moving.

"If you have any—" started Burnette, before being hushed by Sheppard, who raised his eyebrows meaningfully at her. Major Burnette closed her mouth and turned back to her console in silence to let the linguist think. After a few more moments, Bailey broke the silence.

"It's not Ancient, exactly, but I think it's related," she said. "In fact, I think this may be a cousin of Ancient — a language that evolved from the same ancestor as the Ancient we know."

"How did you figure that out just from this message?" asked Burnette.

"Never mind that, just tell us what it says," said Sheppard.

"I can't translate it exactly, but I think the ship is stranded," said Bailey. "They ran out of power."

**~~00~~**

Alone in his lab, Eli paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair.

"How could this happen?" he asked. He stopped, looking around for any sign of an answer.

"Can you hear me, Ginn?" he said to an empty lab. Sitting down at his workbench, he pulled up the holographic display of his fMRI scan once again. There was an entire extra consciousness camping out in his brain. It really explained a lot, thought Eli. Normal people don't hallucinate messages telling them to fly a spaceship to the end of the universe.

"Can't you talk to me?" he asked. "You've done it before."

A message appeared across his brain scan. "It's not easy," it read.

"If we were back on the _Destiny_, I could use the chair to upload both of our consciousnesses to a simulation," mused Eli. "As cool as this ship is, it's missing a few toys."

The message on the screen changed. "Communications stones," it said.

"Duh!" said Eli excitedly, standing up. "Why didn't I think of that?"

He walked to the far end of the lab and opened a drawer. Inside were several small boxes, each of which contained Ancient devices that had been brought along for the benefit of Eli, Todd, and several other scientists on board. Though some of the secrets behind Ancient technology had been unlocked in recent years, such as the science which made the wormhole drive possible, much of the Ancients' technology remained a mystery.

No one on Earth had yet to figure out how the communication stones worked exactly. The ansible device used communication stones in conjunction with Wraith organic polymer, but even Todd hadn't figured out how the original connection was formed. Therefore, Homeworld Command had sent several sets of stones with the _Elizabeth _so that Todd and the other scientists could pursue further experiments. Unlike the stones that Eli had used on the _Destiny_, these stones were not connected to other stones back on Earth. Instead, each stone was stored in a box with its counterpart.

Eli chose a box and walked back to his workbench. As he opened the box, Bailey walked into the lab.

"Eli!" she said. "We found something."

Punching a button to close the holographic display, Eli looked up at Bailey.

"Oh, hi," he said. "Sorry, I've just had something else on my mind."

"Are those communication stones?" asked Bailey. "Is this what you've been working on?"

"Yeah," said Eli. "Actually, can you help me?"

"Sure, but you're gonna wanna see the distress signal we received," she said. "The origin is off our projected path, but Colonel Sheppard has authorized an extra jump to investigate."

"Just pick up one of these stones," said Eli. "I want to try something."

"Okay…" said Bailey, picking up the stone closest to her. As soon as she did, Eli grabbed the other stone.

**~~00~~**

Ginn gasped as she sucked in a lungful of air for the first time in years. It wasn't that she was suffocating during that time, she had just really missed breathing. When she was in Eli's body she felt him breathing, but she couldn't actually breathe for herself. Looking down, she took in the body she had just taken control of. It was shorter than she was, and heavier.

"Did it work?" asked Eli. Ginn looked up at him and smiled.

"Eli!" she cried, attacking him with a hug. "Eli, I'm here, it worked."

"Ginn?" he asked. She stepped back and looked at him.

"It's me," she said.

"How are you here?" asked Eli. "I thought you were lost when the _Destiny_ was destroyed."

"I don't know," said Ginn. "The last thing I remember on the _Destiny_ was checking on your vital signs while you and the rest of the crew were in stasis. Then suddenly I was in your head, and you were in the shuttle with Greer while solar flares ripped the _Destiny _apart."

"Is it possible that you accidentally backed yourself up into my brain?" asked Eli.

"I don't know how I could have, but there was so much about the _Destiny_ I didn't understand, even when I only existed as a consciousness inside the computers," said Ginn. "It's possible."

"And you were just inside my head?" asked Eli. "What was that like?"

"I could see and hear and feel everything you did," said Ginn. "Anything you thought, I heard. But I couldn't talk to you; I couldn't do anything."

"Ginn, I'm so sorry," said Eli, taking her hand.

"I'm just glad I can talk to you now," she said, reaching up with her other hand and running her fingers through his hair. She stepped closer, looking into his eyes.

"We shouldn't," said Eli, swallowing hard and looking away. "It's just…"

"Right," said Ginn, stepping back.

"Eli, I need you on the bridge with Dr. Evans," came Sheppard's voice over the comm system. "We're about to make a jump."

**~~00~~**

On the bridge, John sat in the captain's chair. Eli and Bailey had just arrived, and were taking their seats, with Bailey occupying Todd's usual chair.

"Are we all set back there, Todd?" asked John.

"The gate drive is ready, John Sheppard," came Todd's voice over the comm system.

"Take us out, Major Burnette," said John.

"Yes, sir," said Burnette, entering the command into her console.

Looking out the front viewport, John watched as a wave of distorted energy emanated from a point just below the bridge and expanded into an event horizon several hundred meters in front of the _Elizabeth_. The giant blue portal shimmered with impossible light, held in its circular shape by an invisible barrier. The ship's sublight engines came on, propelling her toward the entrance to the wormhole.

**~~00~~**

As the _Elizabeth _re-emerged on the other side of the wormhole, Eli looked over at Bailey. She looked back at him, smiling.

"I'm still here," Ginn said.

Eli wondered where that left Bailey, but quickly abandoned the thought as he looked out the front window. Floating in the distance was a ship that looked eerily familiar.

"That's an _Aurora_-class ship," said Sheppard.

Ginn punched in a command on Todd's chair and brought up a holographic screen of the ship, magnified several times.

"That's not _Aurora_-class," she said. "I can see why you thought that, but the design's all wrong."

"What exactly did the message say?" asked Eli.

"Didn't Dr. Evans tell you?" asked Sheppard. Eli looked over at Ginn, who shrugged.

"It was a distress call," explained Sheppard. "These guys were stranded with an empty tank."

"The message was over a thousand years old," said Burnette. "I'm not getting any lifesigns; there's no one left."

"Let's go check it out then," said Sheppard. "Eli, Dr. Evans, you're with me. Todd, care to join us?"

"I would prefer to stay on the _Elizabeth_ this time, John Sheppard," came Todd's voice over the comm system.

"Alright then," said Sheppard. "Major Burnette, you're in charge until I get back. Don't sit in my seat though."

**~~00~~**

"Shouldn't we have shut off the stones?" whispered Eli to Ginn, who was sitting next to him in the hold of the shuttle. Across from them sat two armed airmen. Colonel Sheppard was flying, and another airman sat in the co-pilot's seat.

"I want to see this for myself," whispered Ginn. "We can shut them off when we get back. I haven't been properly in a body for years, and besides, I am just as qualified as you to be here."

"Everything alright back there?" called Sheppard from the front of the shuttle.

"Yeah, everything's fine," said Eli, looking at Ginn. "Just talking about something that I couldn't get out of my head."

"We're about to dock," said Sheppard. "Hold on."

The shuttle rocked as it settled over one of the strange ship's airlocks.

"We have a good seal," said the co-pilot. "De-activating artificial grav and opening the hatch. The shuttle is detecting breathable air inside the ship."

The circular hatch in the floor of the shuttle hissed and lifted open as Eli felt himself becoming weightless. The two airmen across from him unstrapped themselves and floated toward the hatch, working to open the outer door of the airlock revealed under it. Finally the door slid sideways, retreating into the hull of the ship. The airmen dropped into the opening, switching on the flashlights attached to their weapons.

"All clear," called one of the airmen from inside the ship. Eli opened the box that was sitting next to him and a single kino floated out of it and toward the hatch. Eli pulled up the video feed and followed after the spherical device. He pulled himself through the airlock past the inner door, which was already open. As he floated into a hallway, he turned around to see Ginn close behind. She was already looking over scans of the ship on her tablet.

"There is an active energy signature coming from the front of the ship," she said, as Sheppard floated through the airlock behind her.

"Lead the way," said Sheppard.

**~~00~~**

As they entered the bridge of the ship, a pedestal in the center of the room lit up with a bright green light. Ginn pushed through the doorway straight toward it, not noticing the vertical tubes on either side of the bridge. One of the airmen floated in behind her, shining his flashlight toward the wall on his left. As the beam fell over them, he saw a decaying corpse in each tube.

"They look human," he said.

"They must have gone into stasis when no one responded to their distress beacon," said Eli. "They were probably alive for hundreds of years before the power failed completely."

He shuddered, thinking of all the people who died in stasis pods on the _Destiny_.

"Careful," said Sheppard. "Just because they're dead doesn't mean they didn't leave any surprises for us."

Ginn arrived at the glowing pedestal, grabbing the edge with her hands to bring herself to a stop. When she touched it, a glitchy hologram appeared above the pedestal. The image of a man, seemingly human and dressed in a sharp uniform, blinked into focus. He began to speak, but the language was alien.

"Bailey, can you translate?" asked Sheppard.

"Um, I can try," said Ginn. She didn't have Bailey's advanced linguistic abilities, but she did speak Ancient, and this sounded almost similar. She looked over at Eli, who had just arrived next to her.

"If there wasn't enough power to move the ship, this message might be using up whatever reserves are left," he said. The kino floated next to him, recording everything. "If you can't translate it before the power dies, you can review the footage later."

The man in the hologram was still speaking, and his voice was becoming more urgent. He spoke for a minute longer and then the image froze. After a moment the message restarted from the beginning.

"I couldn't make out most of it, but he kept repeating one word over and over," said Ginn. "Opifex."

"What does that mean?" asked Sheppard.

"There is a Latin word, opifex," said Ginn, "which can mean maker, inventor, or creator."

"Could it mean the same thing in this language?" asked Sheppard.

"If these people share a common ancestor with the Ancients, then it would make sense," said Eli. "After all, Latin originally evolved from Ancient. Right, Bailey?"

"Yeah," said Ginn. "It could mean the same thing. I'll have to compare this message to examples of Latin and Ancient when we get back to the ship."

Suddenly the hologram blinked off, and the glow from the pedestal faded, leaving Sheppard, Eli, Ginn, and the two airmen in relative darkness. Ginn's tablet flashed with a red warning.

"Oh no," she said. "The oxygen level is dropping."

"Eli?" asked Sheppard.

"The oxygen levels started dropping as soon as the power shut off," said Eli, looking at his own tablet. "At this rate the air won't be breathable in five minutes."

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Sheppard.

**~~00~~**

Back in the shuttle, the two airmen worked to seal the floor hatch as Eli and Ginn strapped in to their seats. Sheppard pushed himself toward the pilot's chair.

"Get us out of here!" he shouted to the co-pilot as he climbed into his seat.

The co-pilot re-engaged the artificial gravity as the floor hatch was sealed, and lifted the shuttle off the alien ship's airlock. When they were a safe distance away, Sheppard turned around to look at Eli.

"Is the kino still in there?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Eli, pulling up the video feed on his tablet. The kino was still floating in the ship's bridge, next to the pedestal.

"What the hell happened in there?" asked Sheppard.

"My guess is that the ship used its emergency power reserves to activate basic life support when it detected the _Elizabeth _arriving," said Eli. "Whoever left this ship behind wanted us to be able to get on board and hear their message."

"But then the emergency power ran out," said Ginn. "Taking the life support with it."

"Will the ship be safe to explore with EVA suits?" asked Sheppard.

"Sir, the ship is gone," said the co-pilot.

"What?" asked Sheppard.

"The ship, sir," repeated the co-pilot. "It's not there anymore."

Sheppard turned and looked out the front window. Where the alien ship had been floating a moment before, there was now only empty space.

"Is it cloaked?" asked Sheppard.

"I'm not detecting any energy signatures," said the co-pilot. "I don't think it's cloaked."

"Eli," said Sheppard, "what is the kino showing?"

Eli looked down at his tablet. "There's no signal," he said. "We lost the kino."

"What the hell…" said Sheppard. "Major Burnette, did you see that?"

"We saw the ship vanish," came Burnette's voice over the comm. "There's no trace of it, sir. It's just... gone."

**~~00~~**

John stood on the bridge of the _Elizabeth_, in front of a hologram of General Samantha Carter.

"Are you sure the ship is gone?" asked Sam.

"We're positive," said John. "I had 302s sweep the entire area. It's not here anymore."

"What does Todd have to say about it?" asked Sam.

"He's never seen anything like it," said John. "That ship was completely dead. The last of the power reserves were depleted powering the life support and the emergency beacon."

"So you think whatever moved the ship was an outside force," said Sam.

"That's what I'm thinking," said John. "But it wasn't anything close to here; we are in the middle of empty space between galaxies."

"What about the message?" asked Sam. "You said you recorded the emergency message that the crew of the ship left behind."

"I'll send the video files Eli recorded to you," said John. "Dr. Evans hasn't been able to translate it yet, except for one word she recognized as possibly Latin: opifex."

"Creator," said Sam.

"Yeah, that's what Evans said," confirmed Sheppard.

"I'll have Danesh look at it," said Sam. "Maybe she will see something Dr. Evans didn't. In the mean time, I want you getting back on course. You still have a mission objective."

"Yes, ma'am," said Sheppard. "We are plotting the next jump now."

"Good luck, John," said Sam, before the hologram blinked off.

**~~00~~**

Eli opened the box on his workbench, revealing the two communication stones.

"Where do you think Bailey's been all this time?" asked Eli.

"If I had to guess," said Ginn, "I'd say she's in your head, where I was. But I'm not sure."

"I'm going to find a way to get you out again, permanently," said Eli. "I can't believe I'm already sending you back."

"The inside of your head's not so bad," said Ginn, smiling. "I get to watch everything you do."

"Everything?" asked Eli, horrified. "Even…"

"Yup," said Ginn, stepping closer to him and putting her hands on his shoulders. "Everything."

"Aren't you worried Bailey's in my head right now, watching this?" asked Eli.

"I don't care," said Ginn, reaching up to kiss him. Eli was surprised to find how good she felt in his arms. Just as he was thinking about how nice her lips were, he realized once again that it was Bailey's body in front of him, not Ginn's. He pulled away from her.

"Sorry, it's just weird," he stammered, "I don't…"

"Right," said Ginn, stepping back. "Let's do this."

She reached toward the box and picked up one of the stones. Eli picked up the other stone.

**~~00~~**

Bailey gasped as her lungs filled with air. She looked up to see Eli standing in front of her.

"Eli!" she said, trying to catch her breath.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Did you think that was okay, like, at all?" asked Bailey.

"I'm really sorry, Bailey," said Eli. "But Ginn is alive."

Bailey stared at Eli, and started to back away slowly before turning around and walking quickly out of the lab. He didn't go after her.

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


	13. Of Elves and Men

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 13**

"**Of Elves and Men"**

The tattered remains of the _Thor_ were drifting aimlessly through space by the time Colonel Caldwell returned in the _Daedalus_ to see what had become of Atlantis. The field of debris was enormous and, as expected, included a great many ravaged Hive ships. They had been sifting through it for days, moving cautiously even under cloak to avoid detection by the remaining Wraith fleet. They were looking for bodies, and right now the Colonel wanted more than anything not to find any.

Tom and Maya Sol had been his friends and had each taken a turn serving under him aboard Earth's premier interstellar warship. He had watched Maya follow the same path her older brother had taken on his way to commanding the _Vanity_, always managing to hit the milestones a little faster than he had. Tom had been proud of her for it, and had told anyone who would listen so long as they promised not to let it get back to her. Not that it would have mattered. For her part Maya pretended her brother's approval meant nothing. She had often claimed that their father's history of service aboard the _Sun Tzu_ combined with a political predilection for male war heroes had fast tracked Tom for command. Though the one time someone had been foolish enough to agree with her on that point, the man in question had been made to scrub re-entry burns from the _Thor_ with a toothbrush. He wanted desperately to believe that they had escaped to Atlantis, but they weren't the type to abandon a ship while there was still fighting to be done. Why was it always the old men who survived?

When the first Hive had appeared over Atlantis his instinct had been to fight, but under the circumstances evacuating the mainland had to be his first priority. Atlantis had shields and weapons and people with the knowledge and skills to use them. The Athosians had nothing. Nothing that could stop a dart from scooping them up and taking them away to be fed on. Nothing to prevent a cruiser from burning their camps down around their heads. Nothing they could use to strike back at their would-be-predators. Nothing that was except for him. Now the Athosians were safely hidden away at the alpha site, but Atlantis was surrounded by Wraith Hives and the _Thor_ had been destroyed, the second _Daedalus_-class ship in as many months.

Colonel Caldwell's hopes were dashed as the ship banked around half of a hive dart bay and into the next leg of its pre-programmed search pattern. The cold lifeless bodies of the Sol siblings hung there amid a few scraps of their former bridge. They still had all of their limbs and the only wound he could see was a gash across Tom's chest that showed up like a sash of red satin over his uniform. It looked as though they had been pulled into the vacuum of space before the majority of the _Thor_ was vaporized. Their hands were joined.

Some people in the military harbor a secret fantasy that they will die in the line of duty, and that their broken bodies will spin for them a tale of heroism that will propel them into immortality. They dream of death and envy their friends who find him first. For them the sight of Tom and Maya Sol floating together through space in this way would have brought with it unfaltering admiration for a man and woman who could die so well. Colonel Caldwell was not one of these people. What he saw was simply death, and what he felt was loss.

"Beam them aboard," he said, and then added softly, "it's the least we can do."

The least, he thought, and looked out at the massive Wraith fleet hovering between them and Atlantis. Yes, and also the most.

**~~00~~**

Thump. Thump. Thump.

In his office above Stargate Operations Commander Woolsey tried to concentrate.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The noise sapped at what mental energy he had left. It was the sound of conquerors softening up their target before an assault. The rhythm was designed to induce a kind of insanity. The kind that led trained soldiers to throw themselves from the battlements rather than face the foe at their gate. The longer he allowed it to continue the more difficult it would be to rally his troops when the time came to fight back.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The city was entering its one hundred and forty-eighth hour of siege on behalf of the Wraith. He should have been formulating a strategy to fight back or searching for a means to evacuate his people, but all he could think about was how the Wraith had found them.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

After the first attack by a cloaked hive, the city had been relocated for fear that more would be on the way. Since then they had learned from Kalel that the first hive had indeed been part of a larger collective that was using the Vanir as slaves to outfit their ships with the stolen cloaking technology.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

In order to put a stop to it and free the remaining Vanir Atlantis had destroyed over a dozen Wraith operated Vanir slave camps. Was it possible a cloaked dart or cruiser had managed to follow them back to the city? To do so they would have to have developed a counter to Lantean cloaking technology, and if they had done that why allow their ship building facilities to be destroyed?

Thump. Thump. Thump.

There was another possibility. The Travelers. Former allies led by a woman with knowledge of Atlantis's position and tactical capabilities. It should have been unthinkable that Larrin Shivon would betray them to the Wraith, but in her eyes the people of Atlantis, in destroying the Vanir slave camps, had devoted themselves to saving the last remaining members of a species that had intentionally and unrepentantly slaughtered her people. For the Travelers, a race that had lived for so long without fear of being culled, the Vanir, not the Wraith, were the true scourge of Pegasus. Larrin Shivon would do whatever it took to be rid of them, and the only one left in the galaxy was just outside Woolsey's door.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

**~~00~~**

"Urgh I can't take it anymore!" whined Rodney.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The shield over the Atlantis Stargate glowed white in time with the thumps. The Wraith had managed to keep the gate open since their arrival, and had been attempting to send things through for about as long. From the dispersal pattern on the shield Kalel had determined that they were drone soldiers. As each one hit the shield a soft but persistent thump echoed around Stargate Operations.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

There were nine more thumps before the wave finally ended.

"How many attempts does that make?" asked Major Romanoff.

"More than I can count," said Rodney miserably, "and I can count really high."

"Mehsh," said the major. "Let them come. It has been a long time since they have had to contend with a fully operational Atlantis. With three ZPMs already in place and more on the way it seems to me that we could hold this position indefinitely."

"Um hi," said Rodney. "Some of us have a hard time sleeping with the constant threat of death looming over us from space, and holding this position isn't going to be enough to sustain us if and when we run out of coffee."

"Then I suggest we use this assuredly brief respite to return to work," said Kalel from his station. "Our commander will not be able to mount effective counter measures if we cannot determine how many vessels surround the planet."

"Well we could just count them if _someone_ hadn't handed them cloaking technology," said Rodney in a fit of anger induced by sleep deprivation.

"I'm sorry," he said a moment later. "I know you didn't have a choice it's just the stress you know. I mean, usually I work well under pressure but this is really hard."

"It never occurred to us when we were designing the cloaks for our own vessels that someday we might want them to be easily compromised," said Kalel.

"But what about this weapon you've brought us?" asked Romanoff, poking at the glowing orb on Kalel's desk. It had been activated shortly after their arrival, but as far as he could tell it had yet to destroy a single cruiser. "Can we not use it to drive them away?"

"The Attero device is the only weapon we know of which is capable of annihilating the Wraith, yes," said Kalel. "Unfortunately in order for it to work the target must pass through a hyperspace window, so it will be of no use to us against the ships which have already arrived. It has however already destroyed a number of incoming vessels."

"What number?" asked the major.

"A very large one," said Kalel.

"Hmm," said the major thoughtfully. He stepped out onto the balcony of the control room and looked up just as another wave of weapons fire rained down on the city's shields. How many ships were up there?

Thump. Thump. Thump.

**~~00~~**

At first glance the difference between the lower extremities of a human and that of a Vanir were trivial. Despite having originated in two separate galaxies, convergent evolution had wrought a number of striking anatomical similarities between the two bipedal species.

As Dr. Carson Beckett studied the X-ray for what must been the hundredth time that afternoon he worked his way along structures analogous to the human tibia, fibula, and patella. They were all there if thinner and slightly spongier, and the major muscle groups were also represented, though in the case of the frail top-heavy Vanir they weren't particularly major. In this Vanir, in fact, they were nearly non-existent from disuse.

Carson was a surgeon as well as a doctor, and he had performed operations on species far more exotic than the Vanir. The problem was that even if Kalel had been human he wasn't sure he could repair the damage the Wraith had done to his legs.

Kalel's bones had been shattered.

The largest breaks would have been catastrophic life-altering injuries for a human, but for the Vanir, who wore bodies like cheap polyester suits, even the tiniest hairline fractures meant a permanent loss of mobility.

He yawned. The incessant thumping of the Wraith bombardment had stopped for the moment. He decided to take the opportunity to get some sleep. He had a feeling that his services would be required very soon. He put his head down on the sleeve of his labcoat and shut his eyes.

**~~00~~**

In the sparring room on the East Pier Teyla was drilling marines in the use of Bantos Rods. They stood along the walls of the room and took turns stepping forward to take up the unfamiliar weapons and face Ronon, who was twirling his own rods knowingly. His latest opponent eyed him cautiously and kept his distance.

"Observe how he has oriented his body perpendicular to yours," said Teyla to the marine who had adopted a defensive posture and was holding his rods out in front of his face. "He is drawing your attention to his left hand while hiding the strike he will attempt with his right, and at the same time he is presenting you with a smaller target."

Ronon swung the rod in his left hand down. The strike was slow and didn't have much power to it, but rather than evade the marine reached up to block. Ronon brought his right hand around and struck at the man's kidneys a little harder than was necessary.

"Bantos is a fighting style that rewards the aggressor," said Teyla, ignoring the man's groan. "By attacking, you control your opponent's movements and create openings in which a few decisive blows may be enough to incapacitate them."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Teyla looked up involuntarily. Through a skylight she could see that another barrage of Wraith weapons fire was beginning to strike the shield over Atlantis. She tried to ignore it.

By now the first marine had retreated and another had picked up his rods. Teyla glanced at Ronon and saw that the muscles of his back and forehead were twitching slightly. Over the last few days he had gotten somewhat irritable as the siege droned on. This morning he had assaulted a cafeteria table after a bleary eyed McKay had accidentally run into him smearing the butter and jam from a full plate of English muffins down his front. It had been Commander Woolsey's idea that Teyla use him to teach the day's drills, and so far the exercise and casual violence had kept him reasonably calm.

"Perhaps now would be a good time for a rest?" she asked.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"I'm good," said Ronon. He nodded to the marine. "You ready?"

The marine nodded and the two of them looked to Teyla for instructions.

"Alright…" she said uncertainly. "What I would like to teach you now is called the cage technique. This will be of particular use if you wish to subdue an opponent without causing them any unnecessary injury."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Ronon's nostrils flared in time with the thumps. Teyla addressed the marine.

"The idea is to pin your opponent to the ground with his weapons pointed away from either of you. To start I want you to attempt a forward takedown."

The marine looked questioningly at Ronon who as yet had not been successfully taken down by anyone present. Ronon responded with a smirk and a slight nod and the two of them began to spar. Ronon gave the marine a few good smacks on his arms and ankles before allowing him to execute the prescribed takedown.

On his stomach Ronon grunted as the marine's knee came down sharply into the small of his back.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Good," said Teyla. "Now secure his hands in front of him with your right and apply pressure to the neck with your left."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A bantos rod came down across Ronon's wrists pinning his own rods out in front of him. Then a second fell across his neck. The pressure was only enough to cause some slight discomfort, but as the marine adjusted his grip the rod in his left hand brushed the scars that had formed over the place where a Wraith tracking device had once been ripped out of Ronon's back.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Instinctively the former Wraith runner jerked his head back and caught the kneeling marine in the chin. The blow caused him to rear up, releasing Ronon's hands, which he leveraged to throw the marine off. Back on his feet, Ronon prepared to strike out again, but Teyla's firm grasp stopped him. The marine was laid out on the floor and nursing what was quite possibly a broken jaw.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Sorry," said Ronon, lifting the man bodily to his feet. "I don't do well in cages."

**~~00~~**

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The headboard rattled as Daniel's skull repeatedly collided with it. Each thump sent vibrations rushing through the floorboards and shook the plethora of other-worldly knick-knacks and Ancient artifacts that adorned the walls and shelves of his private quarters. Fortunately for his skull the impact was softened and muffled by the feathery pillows that were caught in the middle.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The pace of the thumps quickened. Vala let her arms fall to his chest and dug her fingernails into his flesh for leverage. He rose up involuntarily at the pain and she dug them in deeper to make him do it again. He gasped sharply and ripped her hands away. Rolling over on top of her he pinned them up above her head with one hand and used the other to push her into the mattress.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

They fought for dominance.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Now the sound was coming from Jaffa headdresses and plasters of Ancient hieroglyphs as the melee caused them to fall heavily to the floor.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Vala wrapped her legs around Daniel's midsection and twisted until he was beneath her again. She smiled and kissed him lovingly before biting his lip and moving lower. He might still have had the strength to push her off, but he didn't try.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Their pace quickened, their moans driving each other onward. They arched their backs in unison and shouted obscenities as they climaxed then crumpled into an exhausted sweaty heap of human passion.

Daniel closed his eyes and let his mind drift into a state of deep contemplation that the uninitiated might have mistaken for sleep.

"Mmmm. That was wonderful," said Vala, rolling off of him. "There's nothing like a good romp for relieving stress don't you think?"

"Hmmm?" asked Daniel. "Oh yeah definitely, sorry I was just thinking about the Cleavage of Ormet."

"Ormet had better not be the name of your high school sweetheart," said Vala drawing the covers up over her breasts and settling in next to him.

"Uh… no her name was Enid McCallister. She had to wear headgear all the time so we never really got all that intimate– and I guess you didn't ask. No, the Cleavage of Ormet is one of the early chapters of a 13th century compilation of Norse mythology called the Prose Edda. It's about how the dark elves, the Dökkálfr, and the light elves, the Ljósálfar, fought one another over the ruins of an abandoned city on the Ormet River."

Vala wrapped an arm around him and laid her head on his bare shoulder. She looked up at him and drifted into a state of near sleep that the uninitiated might have mistaken for rapt attention. Daniel didn't mind.

"Anyways, the city was divided down the middle by the river, but rather than share it they waged this terrible war on one another until both sides were so weak they could barely feed themselves, which is why both groups were ousted when a wandering tribe of humans happened upon the place and decided to take up residence."

Vala yawned.

"What a very human thing to do," she said.

"Well it's not like the elves were models of compassion either," said Daniel.

"I was talking about the elves."

**~~00~~**

"I've got it," said Rodney.

He was sweating profusely and his eyes were bloodshot.

"What have you... got?" asked Kalel in a slightly worried tone.

"It's like a jigsaw puzzle. Only we've been trying to put all the pieces together without knowing what they're supposed to look like," said Rodney, starting to type feverishly.

"I don't normally make a habit of encouraging narcissism," said Major Romanoff, "but do you think you could explain that thought a little more fully?"

"Yeah yeah yeah," said Rodney. "Do you remember how I told you the Wraith cloak works differently than ours? It disperses all the different forms of radiation we could normally use to detect it over a huge area of space. Now that makes it difficult to pinpoint their location, but all the pieces of the picture are still there for us to find. What we need is a reference point to work backwards to once we've picked them all up. If we tell the computer what the ship is supposed to look like it can sift through all the radiation fields until it finds one that can be made to fit the pattern and extrapolate its position."

"The calculations necessary for that to work would be immense," said Kalel, "and would require a detailed three-dimensional scan of each individual vessel accurate to no less than ten micrometers."

"Well, we can take care of that right here," said Rodney. "The long range sensors should be able to handle a ten micrometer window of error out to… fifty maybe sixty thousand miles?"

"I believe I see a flaw in this plan," said Major Romanoff. "The only vessels you will be able to scan will be those which are not cloaked, correct? It is a catch-22, is it not?"

"But we only need them to decloak for a second," said Rodney. "Say… long enough to deflect a drone?"

**~~00~~**

The bodies of Tom and Maya Sol had been perfectly preserved by the chill of space, and now they were safely loaded into stasis pods for the journey home. Looking at them now Colonel Caldwell wondered if being able to return them would provide their parents with any solace. Bai and Maui Sol were both Buddhists and would probably arrange an open casket funeral, but how much could that luxury offset the pain of burying not just one, but two children?

"Sir," said the voice of Major Marks over his radio, "it appears Atlantis has launched a counterattack."

"What's their target?" snapped the Colonel.

"Um… well as far as I can tell they aren't targeting anything yet."

"What?"

"I… sir I think you'd better come see this for yourself."

**~~00~~**

The Lantean drone zigzagged through space, thwarting the efforts of darts and cruisers to shoot it down, but whenever a ship decloaked and raised its shields in preparation for impact the drone suddenly changed directions and sped away.

When the Wraith had acquired their cloaking technology from the Vanir, they had also adopted their energy shielding, but like the Tau'ri, the Vanir had yet to come up with a way to employ both at once.

Back in Stargate Operations the long range sensors were working as fast as they could to track the movements of each newly revealed vessel.

"You're doing great Carson," said Rodney into his radio. "Just keep that drone in the air as long as you can."

"You know there are plenty of other people in this city more qualified to do this than me," he replied nervously, "any of them for example."

"Yeah well the idea isn't really to hit anything so I think you're perfect."

"Oh thanks."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Oh not now," said Rodney.

The shield over the Stargate glowed white as Wraith soldiers once more threw themselves against it.

"Your plan is working, Dr. McKay," said Kalel. "We must remain focused."

Thump. Thump. _Thump_.

"Right…" said Rodney, but a slight change in the tone of the thumps had set off a small wave of panic inside him.

Apparently Major Romanoff had heard it too, because he shouldered his P-90 and joined his men behind the barricades they had set up on the floor of the Gate Room.

Thump. Thump. _Thump_.

Rodney started to count under his breath as Wraith ships began to show up on his monitor.

"Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…"

Thump. Thump. _Thump_.

A ripple passed over the surface of the gate shield and for a moment the outline of a Wraith drone was clearly visible. Around the room fingers clenched on triggers.

Carson swung the solitary drone around wildly. The seemingly random way he jerked it this way and that made it impossible for the Wraith to shoot it down.

"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty…"

_Thump_. _Thump_. _Thump_.

This time, ripples bounced off the edges of the gate and collided with each other as three more drones seemed to push against the shield. Rodney and Kalel stopped what they were doing to stare mesmerized at the sight. On the main view screen behind them, dozens of red dots representing Wraith vessels winked into existence. Then suddenly the shield over the Atlantis Stargate began to boil.

_Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump._

The drones pulled themselves over the event horizon as if they were escaping a pot of bubbling oil, the shield now only slowing their advance. Many of them fell back as bullets began to fly, but as the bodies piled up they became entrenchments and the fight for Atlantis began.

**Written by Andrew Marron**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


	14. Ragnarok Nigh

**Stargate Genesis**

**Episode 14**

"**Ragnarok Nigh"**

The Attero device exploded in a burst of shrapnel as a Wraith energy weapon was discharged. Without the device, there was nothing to stop the remaining vessels of the combined Wraith fleet that had not already been destroyed from entering hyperspace and travelling to Atlantis. Rodney McKay didn't notice though, as he was preoccupied with the delicate task of not getting shot.

"Not good," he whined, hiding behind a console in the control room as marines and Wraith drones traded rounds in the gate room below. "This is not good!"

"Doctor!" shouted Major Romanoff, firing at the oncoming drones, who were quickly overwhelming the marines. "How did the Wraith drones get past the gate shield?"

"They must have used phasing technology stolen from a Vanir laboratory," said Kalel, already punching commands into his tablet. "It may be possible to modify the shield's frequency to cycle through a range of phases, preventing the Wraith from breaching the barrier."

"Will that work?" called Romanoff.

"Temporarily," said Kalel. "The technology the Wraith are employing is highly adaptive."

"What E.T. is saying is that we'd only have fifteen, twenty minutes tops before the Wraith start coming through the gate again," said Rodney. "It's pointless."

"Do it," said Romanoff, firing another round into the gate room. A flood of drones was still coming through the gate, climbing over the bodies of dead Wraith and marines. "Now!"

"It is done, Major," said Kalel, as he entered a command into his tablet.

_Thump. _Thump. Thump. Thump.

"It's working!" said Rodney. No more Wraith made it through the gate. The remaining drones continued to fight the marines in the gate room.

Major Romanoff emptied his clip and looked over the console he was crouched behind. As he did a drone that had made its way up the stairs leapt over the console, tackling the major to the ground. Rodney watched in horror as they grappled on the floor.

Down in the gate room, Teyla, Ronon, and a squad of marines appeared and quickly dispatched the remaining drones. Ronon scanned the room for stragglers and nodded to Teyla.

"We're clear," he said.

"Major Romanoff," called Teyla. "What is our situation?"

Romanoff stood up from behind a console in the control room, holding a knife dripping with Wraith blood.

"The Wraith possess Vanir phasing technology," he said, wiping the blade on his vest. "Kalel has engineered a temporary solution. He and Doctor McKay have fifteen minutes to make it permanent."

"Rodney?" asked Teyla.

"Yes, I'm here," said Rodney, from his hiding place. "Are you sure they're all gone?"

"Yes, Rodney," Teyla replied.

"Scary monsters are gone," said Ronon. "Time to put that big head of yours to work."

"That's unusual," said Teyla, bending down to inspect the body of a Wraith drone. She lifted its wrist, which had a bracelet shaped device attached to it. "I have never seen a Wraith with a device like this."

"They look like the phase shifting devices the Tollan people in the Milky Way use," said Rodney, walking down the stairs toward the gate room with one of the devices in his hand. "This might not be as hard as I thought."

"Can you stop the Wraith or not?" asked Ronon.

"Well, a few years ago I might have said this sort of technology was beyond us, but we've come a long way in the past few years," said Rodney, smiling. "With some help from my little friend here, I may just be able to come up with a solution."

"That is good, because I fear time is not on our side," said Teyla, turning to look at the still-active stargate.

**~~00~~**

Daniel pulled a shirt over his head while Vala dressed on the other side of the bed.

"This is exciting, isn't it?" asked Vala. "Aliens have invaded the lost city of Atlantis. Our two heroes must depart from the bed where they recently engaged in passionate lovemaking in order to defeat the evil Wraith and restore the city to glory."

"Are you writing a paranormal romance novel?" asked Daniel.

"I would be good at that, wouldn't I?" mused Vala.

"I wouldn't quit your day job," said Daniel.

**~~00~~**

Daniel and Vala arrived in the gate room to see Rodney and Kalel setting up a device about six meters away from the stargate. Teyla, Ronon, and Romanoff stood watching.

"How much time do we have left?" asked Daniel. Vala walked in behind him, still adjusting her shirt. Ronon raised an eyebrow and smiled at her.

"Oh, keep your eyes to yourself, you Neanderthal," she said.

"Kalel predicts that we have five minutes remaining before the Wraith are once again able to breach the gate shield," said Teyla.

"And I'm done," said Rodney, stepping back to admire his handiwork.

"And what is it?" asked a clueless Vala.

"Well, I reverse engineered one of the Vanir phase devices, and used it to McGuyver this device, which can send out a short range burst of phase-altering radiation. It should send whatever it hits temporarily out of phase," said Rodney smugly. "Rather genius, if I do say so myself."

"I was on the team that first engineered the phase devices," said Kalel. "Without my expertise I fear we would be helpless to the onslaught of the Wraith."

"Yeah, yeah, Roswell helped a little," said Rodney. "I'm calling it the 'Phase Blaster'."

"Please tell me you don't let him name things," said Daniel.

"We're running out of time, Rodney," said Teyla. "Whatever the device does, you need to do it now."

"Right," said Rodney, aiming the large satellite-dish shaped machine at the active stargate. "It should be ready to go. Let's save the day, then."

"Activating the device," said Kalel.

"Phase Blaster," corrected Rodney.

"Not calling it that," said Daniel.

The Phase Blaster made a dull hum, and then a wave of energy burst forth from it and straight into the event horizon. The device fell silent, as did everyone in the room.

"This should work," said Rodney, starting to sweat. "The output shouldn't be any different than radio waves; it should be able to travel backwards through the wormhole. If it hits the stargate on the other side, the connection will fail."

Suddenly the event horizon dissipated, and the gate shut down.

"It worked!" shouted Rodney. "I knew it!"

"Dial Earth!" Teyla called to the Control Room. "Now!"

**~~00~~**

Danesh watched as Lynn pulled the dainty brush across the canvas. She was painting a scene she had painted many times before: the view of her village from the top of a grassy hill. When she was a girl it had been her favorite place; she loved to walk to the hill and sit, feeling the wind in her hair and the sun on her face, breathing in the sweet scent of the purple flowers native to her home planet. Since leaving her village and meeting Danesh, Lynn had yet to encounter a flower with a more delicious aroma.

_[Do you miss it?] _asked Danesh.

"Every day," said Lynn.

_[Would you like to return one day?] _wondered Danesh.

"I couldn't," said Lynn, mixing a deeper shade of purple with a new brush. "You know that."

_[The flowers are still there,] _said Danesh. _[The Goa'uld did not take that from you.]_

"My mother, father, and brother," said Lynn evenly, painting the petals of the flowers, "were all that I loved in the world. Without them, the village is no longer my home."

Lynn painted in silence, remembering the last day she ever sat on the hill, before the first place she'd found serenity was ripped from her. Lynn's father died fighting with the other men, but their efforts were in vain. She was taken as a slave with her brother and mother, but they were separated when Lynn was chosen to be the host of a goddess…

She stopped, realizing that she had smeared purple paint across the roof of a cottage in the village.

_[Are you alright?] _asked Danesh.

"Yes, I'm fine," said Lynn, selecting a brown paint to fix the error she had made.

_[I sometimes forget how much it still pains you. To have lost everyone you love…] _said Danesh.

"Not everyone," said Lynn. She smiled, feeling her heart rate rise as Danesh involuntarily flooded her brain with dopamine.

"Am I interrupting something?" asked Major Jessica Warren, who had appeared in the doorway.

_[Damnit,] _cursed Danesh.

Lynn turned around on her stool and ceded control of her body to Danesh.

_[Breathe,] _she cooed.

"What do you want?" asked Danesh.

"I didn't know you liked art," said Jessica, looking at the painting. "You seem too austere for that sort of thing."

"Then perhaps you do not know me at all," retorted Danesh.

"What is it?" asked Jessica. "The painting."

Danesh looked back at the easel. "It is a memory," she said.

She stood up and began to pack up her painting supplies.

"Is there something you needed?" she asked. "We are due for a debriefing with the General in an hour. Surely whatever you have to tell me can wait."

"I want to know what your problem with me is," said Jessica. "We are teammates, and we need to be able to work together."

Danesh stopped what she was doing and turned around to face Jessica.

"Well then," she said. "Have a seat."

**~~00~~**

Colonel Cameron Mitchell watched as Mario flew off the stage, leaving Yoshi alone on the Silph Co. building in Saffron City.

"Whooo!" he yelled, as the results appeared on the screen. He had soundly beaten Major Greer. "I told you Yoshi is the best."

"Why did you make me play this again?" asked Greer, throwing his Nintendo 64 controller down on the coffee table.

"It's a tactical exercise, Ron," said Cameron. "Did you try down-B like I said?"

"If you knew what you were talking about…" grumbled Greer.

"Is there something on your mind?" asked Cameron. "You seem even grouchier than normal today."

Greer looked up at the TV. He had chosen Mario because that was the first choice. Why Mario was fighting at all, he didn't know. He was just a plumber; what business did he have trying to be a hero in a world full of flying turtles and man-eating plants?

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said. Before Cameron could respond, an alarm starting blaring in the hallway.

"Unscheduled gate activation," came Harrison's voice over the loudspeaker.

**~~00~~**

"It's Atlantis," said Harriman. "They are sending a video communication."

"Send it through," said General Samantha Carter, walking over to the video display. Teyla Emmagan appeared on the monitor.

"Teyla," said Sam, "I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon."

"Atlantis is under assault from the Wraith," said Teyla gravely.

"What?" asked Sam. "When did this happen?"

"It has been several days since the first ships appeared above the planet," said Teyla. "We have been unable to dial out in that time, as the Wraith have maintained a connection with our gate since they arrived."

"We have been receiving regular status updates from Atlantis for the last several days, General," said Harriman.

"If you didn't send us updates, then who did?" asked Sam.

"As you know, the Wraith have recently incorporated Vanir technology into their arsenal," said Teyla. "It is possible that they were able to mimic a status update to Earth."

"Harriman, find those updates and see if there is anything that can help us," said Sam, before returning her attention to Teyla. "Tell me what you know."

**~~00~~**

Back in the Atlantis control room, Rodney, Daniel, Vala, and Ronon stood in a circle. Teyla was in her office, giving a report to Stargate Command.

"We can only keep this connection going for so long," said Daniel. "Anyone have any ideas about what to do once the Wraith dial in again?"

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Above them the fleet of Wraith vessels had begun firing on Atlantis again.

"We may have another problem," said Ronon.

"They do like to shoot at us, don't they?" said Vala.

"Don't worry," said Rodney. "With three ZPMs, the shield can hold against their fire."

Thump. Thump. _Thump._

"Are you sure about that?" asked Ronon, unsheathing his pistol.

Above them, the shield had begun to ripple, each energy blast sending a shockwave across the barrier. A moment later, one of the energy blasts passed straight through the shield with no resistance. It flew straight toward the group before passing harmlessly through Rodney's chest and into the floor.

"I'm hit!" said Rodney, clutching his chest. "Oh god, this is the end. Tell my sister I love her."

Realizing that he wasn't actually harmed, Rodney composed himself.

"I mean, that's what I would say if I were actually dying," he said.

"What in the hell just happened?" asked Vala, before another energy blast passed through the shield. This time it hit a building on the East pier, exploding on impact, sending parts of the building flying.

"They are using the phase technology on their weapons fire!" shouted Daniel.

"I'm running the phase-alternating program on the shield now," said Rodney.

"How long will that last?" asked Vala. "I'd rather not be exploded!"

"They'll see this coming and start engineering a work-around, just like they probably did with the gate shield," said Rodney. "But it should keep them occupied for a while. Judging from the accuracy of their fire, they are still trying to figure out how to configure the phasing so that the energy blasts can make it through the shield, but still come back into phase in time to hit Atlantis."

"Lucky for you," chuckled Ronon.

"Very funny," said Rodney.

**~~00~~**

SG-1 sat around the conference table with General Carter. Four additional chairs held hologram images of Teyla, Woolsey, Rodney, and Daniel.

"I'm recommending that you evacuate Atlantis immediately," said Sam. "You have a connection to Earth now; you might not get another chance."

"With all due respect, Sam," said Daniel, "we can't abandon Atlantis. We still have so much to learn here, and without us, the people of Pegasus don't stand a chance."

"Especially since the Vanir are no longer in the equation," said Woolsey. "I agree with Daniel; Atlantis is far too valuable to surrender. If the Wraith take over Atlantis, Earth will be their next target."

"Have you heard from the _Daedalus?_" asked Sam.

"Not since Colonel Caldwell left with the Athosians," said Teyla. "We assume he is monitoring the situation while remaining hidden. Any attempt to land or contact us would surely result in the _Daedalus_' destruction."

"We've already lost the _Thor _and the _Vanity_," said Woolsey. "There are just too many hive ships here to take on without reinforcements."

"We can send more _Daedalus-_class ships, but they won't be there for weeks," said Cameron.

"What about the new _Elizabeth-_class gate ships?" asked Rodney. "Just jump the fleet over here, blow up the bad guys, and go home."

"The only _Elizabeth_-class ship that isn't still under construction is the _Charles Kawalsky,_ Rodney," said Sam. "And she is still damaged from her maiden flight. It will be weeks before the gate drive is ready to use again."

"Sorry about that," said Jessica. "I might have done that."

"It wasn't your fault," said Danesh, nodding slightly. Jessica smiled.

"Doesn't Atlantis have a gate drive?" asked Greer. "You used it to get to Earth and back, right?"

"The drive burnt out on the trip back to Pegasus three years ago," said Teyla.

"It was one of Zelenka's," said Rodney. "I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did."

"And you never fixed it?" asked Daniel.

"Never had a reason to," said Rodney. "Didn't seem worth it."

"What about the shield generator?" asked Jessica. "It has been modified so it can cloak Atlantis instead of shielding it, right?"

"Yes, but the Wraith already know we're here," said Rodney, annoyed. "If we turn off the shield, they will blow us to hell within seconds."

"Can't you just modify it again to send Atlantis out of phase?" asked Jessica.

"Well… theoretically…" mused Rodney.

"Would it work or not, Rodney?" asked Cameron.

"Yes, yes," said Rodney, "I think so."

"Thank you, Major Warren," said Teyla, smiling warmly.

"You're welcome," said Jessica.

"If Atlantis is out of phase, wouldn't the Wraith be able to just adjust their phase devices to match?" asked Woolsey.

"Unless you went further out of phase than the Wraith's devices were able to go," suggested Danesh. "Surely the great city of Atlantis is capable."

"Rodney, can you talk to Kalel and see if that is possible?" asked Sam.

"I know it's possible, I don't need a tiny sexless alien to tell me that," said Rodney. "But it will take an enormous burst of power. With only three ZPMs, we may not be able to come back into this phase once we shift out."

"Atlantis has the ability to grow more ZPMs," said Daniel. "We can just wait until more are ready, and then shift back once we have enough."

"That could take weeks!" shouted Rodney. "We couldn't dial out during that time. We'd be completely stranded!"

"It's the best option we have," said Teyla.

"Do we have your permission to proceed, General Carter?" asked Woolsey.

"Go ahead," said Sam.

"Good luck," said Cameron. "We'll be waiting for you."

"Don't stay up," said Daniel.

**~~00~~**

In the shield generator room, Kalel made the final adjustments, while Rodney stood with his arms crossed disapprovingly.

"Be careful!" he exclaimed. "You're going to break it!"

"I assure you, I will not break the generator," said Kalel calmly. "Despite what you may think, among my people I am an engineer of great renown."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

"Is the generator ready?" came Woolsey's voice over the comm system. "The shield is beginning to ripple again. We may not have much time left."

"Yes, yes, it's ready," said Rodney. Kalel closed the panel he was working on.

The room shook as something in the distance exploded.

"Turn it on, Rodney!" shouted Teyla over the comm. "The shield has been breached!"

Kalel entered a command into the console.

"Done!" responded Rodney. Within moments the air was filled with Wraith weapons fire, passing harmlessly through the room.

"It worked," came Teyla's voice. "The Wraith assault is having no effect."

"What do our power levels look like, Doctor McKay?" asked Woolsey.

Rodney looked at Kalel, who shook his head.

"Not good," said Rodney. "As I suspected, the shift took every bit of power we had left. We're stuck."

"But we are safe," said Teyla. "For now, that is enough."

An energy blast came through the ceiling and passed straight through the generator, a meter away from Rodney.

"And yet, I don't feel safe at all," he said. "Funny."

**Written by Caleb Palmquist**

**Story by Andrew Marron and Caleb Palmquist**


End file.
